The Swift Current Broncos struggles continued on Wednesday in a 6-4 loss to the visiting Kelowna Rockets. The Broncos allowed the opening four goals, before fighting back in the third period to get within one goal only to have their comeback bid fall short.
The Rockets opened the scoring only 29 seconds into regulation when former Bronco Dawson Gerwing scored on a tip in. They added a Mazden Leslie goal and another from Carson Wetsch to lead 3-0 after one period.
The Rockets added to the lead with a Levi Benson goal early in the second period. Jace McFaul got the Broncos on the board with a power play goal to cut the deficit to three goals with his seventh goal of the season. The Rockets replied with a Shane Smith goal to restore the four-goal lead.
The Broncos scored 5:12 into the third period when Easton Laplante scored in his first game with the Broncos. The Broncos scored 1:07 later when Jaxen Gauchier tipped in a point shot for his sixth goal in 10 games since rejoining the team. Sawyer Dingman scored his seventh goal to make it a one-goal game. The Broncos found themselves shorthanded for most of the final four minutes of the game and Smith scored a power play goal to end their comeback hopes.
Joey Rocha made three saves on six shots over 10:03 to fall to 8–13-0-0. Rookie Aiden Eskit made 32 saves on 35 shots in relief. Harrison Boettiger made 19 saves to improve to 8-6-2-0 for the Rockets.
The Broncos fell to 8-20-10, while Kelowna improved to 14-9-3-1.
The Broncos will host the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday for their annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
