Anybody who sneaked out in the final three minutes of last night’s Humboldt Broncos game against the Battlefords North Stars missed a comeback for the ages as the Horsemen potted three lighting fast goals to pick the Stars pockets. The Broncos skated off with a 4-3 victory in the spirited affair.  

In the opening frame, the Broncos threw everything they had at Stars netminder Joey Hawco, outshooting Battlefords 18-5. Finally at 17:38, a quick centering pass and a feed to Brayden Sogstad netted the Broncos the opening goal.  

Not a team to fold under pressure, the Stars rallied in the second and pushed the offense right off the puck drop in the second period. Seconds into the period, Stars’ Jackson Allen beat goalie Benjamin Motew to tie it up. Battefords go ahead goal came two minutes later on a soft shot from the boards, deflected past Motew by left winger Lleyton McLean. 

The Broncos were in further jeopardy facing a five on three, but their penalty kill proved effective. The two teams duked it out for the remainder of the second and past the half-way point of the third when the Stars’ Bradley Blake took advantage of a power play to go up a pair.  

The Broncos’ fate looked dire as they once again peppered the Stars net, manned in the last half of the game by Emmett Dixon. Their persistence paid off in the last two and a half minutes when Bronco newcomer Patrick Lanthier put the power play to work to pull within one. Eight seconds later, Conner Miller connected with Jeter Korte who lit up the goal light and the audience with the tying goal. Then nearing the final minute came the icing on the cake with the go-ahead goal by Cage Newans with an assist from Lanthier.  

Last night’s game was an all-out never say die effort from the Broncos and a likely sign of things to come from the Broncos heading toward the regular season. Next pre-season action for the Broncos is this weekend against the Melfort Mustangs in a home and home. Friday night’s matchup is at the Northern Lights Palace, and then it's back to the EPA on Saturday for a 7 pm puck drop. 

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