The Swift Current Broncos have found their scoring touch to earn their second win in the past three games with a 7-4 victory over the Winnipeg Ice on Friday. The Broncos now have points in three straight games with 17 goals along the way.
The Broncos jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, beginning with Bode Hagan’s first Western Hockey League goal when he backhanded a long rebound home only 2:48 into regulation. Rookie Braeden Lewis added his first career goal when his saucer pass went off a defender’s knee and into the goal for a 2-0 lead. Caleb Wyrostok padded the lead with 2:40 remaining in the frame as he collected a perfect saucer pass from Lewis and deked to the backhand, finishing into the net while being upended.
Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering kept the game scoreless when he kicked a puck off the goal line while shorthanded in the dying moments of the opening stanza.
The Ice cut into the lead with a pair of goals in the second period. Peyton Krebbs scored 39 seconds into the period on the power play to get the Ice on the board with a seeing-eye point shot. Aiden Bulych quickly restored the Broncos lead when he drifted out from behind the net and collected a loose puck to fire into the open goal for his second of the season. The Ice scored another power goal late in the period as Jakin Smallwood notched his seventh of the season on a loose puck that was shoveled home for a 4-2 score after 40 minutes.
The two teams combined for five goals in the third period, but the Broncos scored three of them to close out the win. Michael Farren, Aiden Bulych and Josh Davies all scored for the Broncos, while Owen Pederson and Conor Geekie replied for the Ice.
Farren added two assists for a three-point outing, while rookie Mathew Ward had a career outing with four assists. The 2019 first round pick now has nine assists in eight games this season.
Isaac Poulter picked up his first win of the season with 33 saves for the Broncos. Carl Stankowski allowed seven goals on 38 shots to fall to 1-2-0-0.
Winnipeg had lost to Brandon on Thursday and were playing their third game in four days.
“We were playing a tired team, that helped us for sure,” said Broncos head coach Dean Brockman. “I thought we did some things offensively off the rush that allowed us to score some goals. We’ve been preaching offense, offense, offense. We do want to score goals, because it’s been a few years since we have.
The Broncos lost the only previous meeting 6-4 on March 15 when they fell behind 5-1 before attempting to come from behind.
“Then we just kind of changed our structure a bit in the neutral zone to make sure that we were covering their aerial plays. We tried to take that game away from them a bit. It worked for the most part but they still had some really good chances,” explained Brockman.
The Ice finished two-for-five on the power play, while the Broncos scored once on three man-advantages.
The Broncos (1-5-1-0) will continue their ‘home stand’ against Manitoba teams on Sunday at 4 p.m. when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings in Regina.
