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Hockey is back in Humboldt.
The Humboldt Broncos skated to an emotional 2-1 loss at the hands of the Nipawin Hawks to open the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League regular season Wednesday.
It was the first game for the Broncos since April 6, when the team bus collided with a semi-trailer north of Tisdale. Sixteen of the 29 people on board died.
Hockey is back in Humboldt. Brayden Camrud took the opening faceoff with Derek Patter on his wing. #HumboldtBroncos pic.twitter.com/aKt0SgECVs
— Chris Vandenbreekel (@Vandecision) September 13, 2018
“I thought we played a pretty good game, for the first one,” head coach and general manager Nathan Oystrick said following the game. “It’s a step forward.”
“Now we just kind of keep building off that.”
With a national — if not international — spotlight on the overflowing Elgar Petersen Arena, the Broncos managed that unbearable weight with ease and seemed to settle in as the game progressed.
And with each shift of hard-nosed hockey, the boisterous fans cheered louder and smiled bigger.
“The crowd was into it,” Oystrick said. “It was an emotional game. It’s nice to see the community behind us, It’s nice to have the building packed.
“I believe after the first shift, (the players) put their noses down and started working.”
After a scoreless first period, it was the Broncos that continued a relentless attack to open the scoring and elate the more than 1,800 people in attendance.
With the Hawks already a man down, a Nipawin defender tripped an attacking Bronco in front of the Hawks net to send the Broncos to a 5-on-3 powerplay. Humboldt made quick work of the two-man advantage as Michael Clarke slotted home a cross-ice pass from Owen Guenter to go up 1-0 just over two minutes into the second period.
The @HumboldtBroncos get the opening goal of the season, courtesy of Michael Clarke! #HumboldtStrong pic.twitter.com/iC1ez72VEl
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 13, 2018
Nipawin answered back with just under six minutes left in the period as Cole Beamin one-timed a wrist shot from the centre of the slot as the Broncos were retreating in their own zone.
The Hawks took a 2-1 lead on a broken rush less than four minutes later. Forward Jeremy Bisson was given a quick feed from teammate Austen Flaman after having the puck poked away by a Broncos defender. He swiped the puck on goal and watched it bounce off the end of goalie Dane Dow’s stick and slowly into the back of the net.
A frantic attack from the Broncos in the third period was snuffed out by Hawks goaltender Declan Hobbs to secure the win, including a dramatic blocker save with less than three seconds remaining.
#HumboldtBroncos emerge for the 3rd. Talking to fans in the intermission, sometimes you wouldn't know this game had more to it. "They're playing great, let's get a goal!" Or "they're slowing down! They've got to move their feet!" The more hockey is played, the more smiles. pic.twitter.com/ssg5YUJBaz
— Chris Vandenbreekel (@Vandecision) September 13, 2018
With the national spotlight centered on Humboldt, two players who were on the bus when it crashed — Brayden Camrud and Derek Patter — were in the lineup. Both were named assistant captains prior to the game.
On Wednesday, Camrud was a force to be reckoned with, creating dangerous opportunities nearly every time he was on the ice and showing no ill effects of a bus crash that nearly stopped him from ever playing hockey again.
That effort was monumental to Oystrick.
“I can’t say enough good things about either of those guys,” he said of Patter and Camrud. “They work, they work, and they work. They do the little things that help us compete and help us be a good team.”
The team will continue to strive for a sense of normalcy away from national scrutiny. That journey continues on Friday, with the team’s first road trip of the season to Nipawin, the same route the team traveled on April 6.