The Humboldt Broncos shook off their pre-season woes with the Melfort Mustangs in dramatic fashion and skated away with a pair of wins on the weekend. 

In Friday’s 7-4 victory, the Broncos came out hard and fast with Alec Saretsky tagging the opener from Chase Lacombe, and Sam Marburg followed up with the help of Ben Kotylak and Xavier Roy. 

The Mustangs made the most of a power play as towering Mustangs defenceman Leyton Holoien connected for Melfort’s first near the 9 min mark. A couple minutes later, Melfort’s Dawson Leroux tied it at 2 a piece.  Kotylak and Jayce Benvie restored the two goal lead with a goal each, marking the end of the night for Melfort goalie Joel Favreau. Previous to Friday, Favreau had let in only a pair of goals in regular season outings against Flin Flon and La Ronge. Jackson Fellner put in the remaining forty minutes between the pipes. 

Melfort crawled back into it with another pair, one in the second frame courtesy of Leif Olafson and one in the third from Wyatt Day.  

However, Humboldt would not be denied and scored three short handed goals to put the Friday night contest away. Newcomer Daylan Weigel capped the second period with a marker, assisted by Jack Piper. Then early in the third, Humboldt native McLaren Paulsen drew a penalty on a breakaway resulting in a penalty shot awarded to Humboldt. Cage Newans got the nod, under a new SJHL rule, and made no mistakes. Ethan Zielke, on a feed from Lucas Ceccarelli, supplied the final short handed goal to wrap it up. 

Much of the return game on Saturday night was decided along the boards as the goaltenders Favreau and Tristan Boileau put on a clinic. 

Humboldt's Benvie scored a first period goal, and then the teams ground it out through the second and third periods deadlocked at two goals apiece at the end of regulation. The scoreless second period was a shoulder to shoulder defensive effort by both teams with precious little time spent in the neutral zone. Sam Marburg handed out key checks from the Broncos side, matched by the likes of Leyton Holoien for Melfort.

Then one minute into 3 on 3 overtime, captain Ethan Zielke sniped a long range shot, provided by Noah Barlage and Xavier Roy, to take the second win 3-2. 

The Broncos are in Warman today and tomorrow for the SJHL showcase and a pair of matches against La Ronge and Estevan.