HUMBOLDT — It was not the start the Humboldt Broncos were looking for in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League semifinal series.
The Flin Flon Bombers defeated the Broncos 3-1 at the April 1 game at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
"We had a good series with La Ronge in Round 1 and we had a lot of momentum build off that, with winning three in a row," said Rayce Ramsay, the goalie from the Broncos. "Just coming into the game we were trying to build off that. It didn't go our way but we'll be back at it tomorrow."
Flin Flon opened the scoring with a first period power play, with Reece Richmond getting a point shot through a crowd and beating Ramsay. Humboldt almost tied the game up, with Matthew Perkins actually beating the Bomber's Cal Schell, but the goal was called back after Perkins was penalized for a slash on the play. On a power play, Flin Flon's Jaeden Mercier made it a 2-0 game after sneaking past the defence and firing a backhand past Ramsay.
"It was definitely not the start we're looking for there," said Carter Hansen, the Broncos' assistant coach. "We took a couple early penalties and they capitalized on two of them."
The second period saw neither team score.
In the third period, Humboldt's Braiden Koran scored during a power play.
"He got into a good position and got a nice tip," Ramsay said. "[Cal] Schell's a good goalie down there, so we got to keep firing pucks, get in his way, get deflections and we'll score more like that."
In the final moments of the game, Flin Flon's Drew Kuzma scored a game, sealing the Bombers' win.
Hansen said he thought the Broncos played great, with the exception of those earlier penalties.
"Second, third period, I thought we really took the play to them. We used our speed, got pucks in deep, shot every puck we could at the net. I think at the end of the day, we can be pretty happy with how we played that 60 minutes."
When asked about the different between Flin Flon and the La Ronge Ice Wolves, Carter said La Ronge was a more heavier series, while Flin Flon likes to play with a lot of speed.
Ramsay stopped 25 out of 27 shots, while Schell stopped 36 out of 37.
The two teams face each over again on Saturday, April 2 at the Elgar Petersen Arena at 7:30 p.m.
—Written with files from Eric Westhaver, Flin Flon Reminder
