Team Green took home the Elgar Petersen Cup following the Top 40 game at the Humboldt Broncos fall camp. Now coaching staff have the difficulty of creating their roster for the 2023/2024 season. (Facebook/Humboldt Broncos Jr 'A' Hockey Club)

By Becky Zimmer

Broncos Preseason

Broncos working to fill the gaps as eight return to the green and gold

Sep 15, 2023 | 8:00 AM

With only a handful of players returning to the Elgar Petersen barn this season, the Humboldt Broncos have some gaps to fill as they work their way through the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League preseason.

The green and gold got down to business with their fall camp on Labour Day weekend and Team Green taking the 2023 Elgar Petersen Cup in the Top 40 match up.

Head coach Scott Barney told northeastNOW the weekend was very competitive and now the challenge will be to get their numbers down with a lot of tough decisions to be made.

Part of the problem is filling the gaps left by their departing centres and their entire leadership team through players graduating or moving on to their post-secondary education early.

As a coach, it is a great thing to see, said Barney, but now he and his staff have the added challenge of filling the holes.

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Quinn Myles, Matthew Van Blaricom, Maddox Amaral, Cage Newans, Spencer Bell, Tristan Serrao, Daylan Weigel, and goalie Benjamin Motew are on the preseason roster once again after playing a significant role on the ice last season.

Landen Stromme will be making his return following a trade to the Dryden Ice Wolves last year with Jeter Korte, Connor Miller, Simon Martin, Noah Asmudson, and Braden Nienaber hitting the ice after signing team commitments for this upcoming season.

The rest of the names are brand new to the Broncos, including Brayden Skogstad, a Kelowna, B.C. product who started his career with the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL. According the preseason roster, there are 16 rookies with plenty of gumption waiting for their turn on the ice, said Barney.

He is already seeing the hustle as players push each other in the fight for ice time.

“The biggest thing for us is the players are going to dictate who’s playing. That’s what makes our job easier,” he said. “It’s just trying to weed out the guys who are similar and maybe we’re too deep in certain areas but we’re looking forward to that as well.”

The roster is far from certain right now. Barney will be making some significant moves in the coming days with another three to five players needing to be cut to get the roster down to the required 25 names. This is the hardest thing he has to do as head coach and GM, he said, but he hopes to help players continue their junior career elsewhere, even if it isn’t with the Broncos.

“Our first priority is obviously putting a competitive team on the ice, but also getting players opportunities at the next level into university and college and from there, moving on in their careers.”

The Broncos will be rocking the Elgar Petersen Arena during their home opener on Sept. 23 when they invite the Notre Dame Hounds to town to kick off the regular season.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim