Round one starting with La Ronge and Humboldt facing off

This will be the first time the two teams will face each other since November. In four games against one another this past season, the Broncos took the win in three, including a shootout victory, but La Ronge was responsible for a rare hometown loss for the green and gold. In their league series, the Broncos have outscored the Ice Wolves 18 to eight. Shots on goal is a closer affair between the two teams with the Broncos getting off a few more shots with 149 to the Ice Wolves 123.

La Ronge has topped the league in penalty minutes this season but the Broncos trail them by a small margin finishing the season with 1,546 to the Ice Wolves 1,562.

This has meant a lot of penalty minutes to kill for both teams. With 90.9 per cent success on their PK minutes, the Broncos are number one in the league while La Ronge has had the least success with 74.0 per cent. On the flip side, both La Ronge and Humboldt have been middle of the road on the power play with Humboldt seeing a 21.3 per cent success on 133 opportunities and La Ronge seeing 18.7 per cent on 126 for sixth and seventh place in the league.

On the offence, the Broncos have consistently had some of the league’s best players throughout the season. Connor McGrath has maintained a high position on the SJHL’s top skater leaderboard and is going into playoffs with a league-leading 84 points in 56 games, including 35 goals and a league-leading 49 assists. On the defence, Humboldt’s own Noah Barlage is second among the league’s defencemen with 42 points in all 58 games this season with eight goals and another league-leading 34 assists.

For La Ronge Brandon Della Paolera leads the team in points with 56 in all 58 games this season with 18 goals and 38 assists.

On the blueline, Nate Looft leads his fellow defencemen in points with 25 points, including eight goals and 17 assists in 45 games.

Between the pipes, Humboldt has two options in Rayce Ramsay and William Dyke.

With a save percentage of 0.930, 41 wins and 2,973 minutes in the Broncos net, there is no question that Ramsay will be put to good use this first round for the Broncos. Ramsay has stopped a combined 92/97 shots against the Ice Wolves during the regular. A later comer to the season, Dyke has played in eight games with the green and gold with four wins and three losses to his name and a save percentage this season of 0.895.

La Ronge’s Xavier Cannon has logged 1,731 minutes and 30 games in net this season with a save percentage of 0.910 and 17 wins to his name. The season has been split fairly even with Dawson Smith who has 1,522 minutes and 29 games in the Ice Wolves net with 12 wins and a save percentage of 0.893. Historically this season Cannon has held the Broncos within only one or two goals in his two games while Smith has had a harder time against the Bronco offence.

Round one will begin on March 18 with puck drop at 7:30 at the Elgar Petersen Arena followed by game two on Saturday night in Humboldt. Games three and four will both be at Mel Hegland Uniplex on March 22 and 23.

—

becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim

by Becky Zimmer

Round one starting with La Ronge and Humboldt facing off

What's Trending