Despite yet another solid effort at the SJHL Showcase in Warman, the Estevan Bruins will return home without a win at the event after dropping a 3-2 decision to the Humboldt Broncos on Wednesday.
It would be the Broncos getting the scoring started and more specifically, their top line which gave the Bruins’ fits all game long. On a 2-on-1, Alec Saretsky hit a streaking Connor McGrath with a pass and McGrath deflected home the puck past netminder Cam Hrdlicka to put Humboldt up 1-0 at the 9:42 mark. Then at the 15:51 mark, McGrath would fire home a shot from the top of the circle to make it 2-0 for the Broncos.
But the Bruins’ bounced back before the end of the period. On a 5-on-3 powerplay, Olivier Pouliot took a snapshot which was stopped by Humboldt’s Rayce Ramsay. However, the puck bounced up in the air and Caelan Fitzpatrick batted it home out of midair to make it 2-1 at the 18:38 mark. Mark Rumsey also drew an assist on Fitzpatrick’s 4th goal of the season.
Humboldt would restore their two-goal lead early in the 2nd period, as Braiden Koran fed a sneaky pass between the legs to McGrath who scored his third goal of the game to make it 3-1 just 0:40 into the middle frame. But the Bruins’ would respond again as Griffin Asham-Moroz snuck behind the defence, picked up the loose puck and fired his 2nd of the season past Ramsay to cut the deficit to 3-2 after two periods. Kade Runke and Mason Smith assisted on the goal.
That remained the score throughout the 3rd period as the Bruins would earn several chances to get the tying goal, but were unsuccessful and ran out of time as Humboldt held on for the 3-2 victory.
Cam Hrdlicka played outstanding for the Bruins in his SJHL debut, making 31 saves but ended up with the loss. Rayce Ramsay made 33 saves in the win for Humboldt. The Bruins went (1/6) on the powerplay while Humboldt went (0/3).
The Bruins (3-2-0-0) will now return home to Estevan for five consecutive home games beginning this Friday, October 8th when they host the Weyburn Red Wings at 7:30pm at Affinity Place.
