An all too familiar formula resulted in the the Broncos dropping their second straight contest Wednesday in Notre Dame.

A slow and sloppy first period allowed the Hounds to build a 2-0 lead and Humboldt scrambled all night long to try and climb their way back in to no avail leading to a 3-2 set back.

Assistant Coach Brayden Klimosko stated exactly that on the post game show.

"It was a game that we needed to win in my opinion, with a couple days off here there's really no excuse to not be ready for tonight's game and we really weren't. The first period wasn't great."

Conor MacLean scored first to make it 1-0, Ben Duperreault took sole possession of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's goal scoring race with his 35th to make it 2-0. The 20 year-old Wilcox product has one more goal than Humboldt's Chris Van Os-Shaw who was held pointless Wednesday.

The second and third period was much better for the visitors, they were rewarded for their efforts at 6:50 of the middle frame, Luke Kempf jammed a rebound past Benjamin Patt cutting the lead in half. Matthieu Gomercic and Tristan Elder each picked up assists on Kempf's seventh of the season and third in three games.

The Broncos kept generating chances but Notre Dame restored their two goal cushion and the momentum with just over six minutes left in the second, James Piller beat Garrett Mason making it 3-1.

Going to the second intermission while trailing doesn't treat the Broncos well, they were 2-20 this year if behind going to the third.

Despite 16 shots in the third and a power-play goal from Stephan Wack Humboldt couldn't find the equalizer as the Hounds close their season series to 4-2 in favour of the Broncos. Brett Horn and Elder were credited with the assists on Wack's second of the campaign which came on a power-play. 

"The second and third we were a different hockey club, we definitely pushed the pace there," Klimosko praised as he admitted the final 40 minutes were dominated by his club.

However the starts have haunted them all year and it needs to be fixed.

"It's a very tough question but you have to figure it out sooner or later here or otherwise we won't be playing very long to be honest. If it's your preparation or what, I don't know, we stress it enough."

Mason stopped 29 shots in the loss, Patt earned the win making two more stops in the Hounds net.

The Broncos were good on their only chance on the man advantage, Notre Dame was 0/2.

Humboldt is now off until Wednesday, February 15th when they host the LaRonge Ice Wolves.

Klimosko continued to stew and wonder why they couldn't put forth a solid 60 minute effort and not have this on their minds.

"Sure we want to win but let's be ready to play. There's times you are going to win a hockey game or get a bounce here or there when something happens but to come out like that, there was no energy, there was no nothing, we were lucky we were only down two."

The Broncos record is now 26-22-0-1, they are four points up on Weyburn for 5th place overall, they have nine regular season games remaining.

In the one other SJHL game Wednesday the Battlefords clobbered Kindersley 6-1.

You can hear Klimosko's complete post game as well as from Logan Boulet who joined Clark Stork during the first intermission.