The Humboldt Broncos and Flin Flon Bombers have joined the Estevan Bruins in the SJHL Semi-Finals, thanks to Humboldt’s 5-3 win in Game 6 in La Ronge, and Flin Flon’s 6-2 decision over the visiting Battlefords North Stars on Sunday night.
Cage Newans and Lucas Ceccarelli scored twice each for Humboldton Sunday, while Rhett Gibson finished off the scoring. Rayce Ramsay made 26/29 saves in the win.
Defenseman Taylor Webb scored twice for the Ice Wolves, and Ryley Morgan added one more in the third. Xavier Cannon capped off a terrific season and SJHL career, making 27 saves in goal for La Ronge. The Ice Wolves led the series 2-1 and let a pair of multi-goal leads slip away in Game 4 at home, and the Broncos kept control the rest of the series.
Estevan and Humboldt will host the two semis as the top two seeds, but their opponents are still in question until Tuesday as the Melfort Mustangs won 5-3 in Yorkton Sunday to force a seventh and deciding game back in Melfort.
The Bombers also won’t know where they’re going next until the conclusion of Yorkton/Melfort on Tuesday. If Yorkton wins, the Terriers would head to Estevan and Flin Flon would meet Humboldt. If Melfort wins, they would face rival Humboldt and Flin Flon would head to Estevan.
Ben Tkachuk (1g-1a), Nolan Doell (1g-1a), Seth McCulloch, Dawson Leroux and Marco Lopez score in Melfort’s must-win game in Yorkton on Sunday while Kishaun Gervais scored twice for Yorkton and JD Hall had a goal and an assist. Joel Favreau made 28/31 saves in the win.
In Flin Flon, Cal Schell earned his fourth straight win making 40/42 saves, while Gabriel Shipper, Drew Kuzma and Jacob Vockler all had a goal and an assist. Zak Smith and Brett Wieschorster and Lucas Fry also found the net. Keiton Klein and Dylan Esau added goals for the North Stars. Esau caps a four year career with the Stars and was the league’s only active player to have won a championship when the Stars won it all back in 2018-2019.