The Swift Current Broncos early season struggles continued in a 5-2 loss to the host Red Deer Rebels to fall to 0-4 in the 2018-19 Western Hockey League regular season.
After a scoreless opening period, the Rebels jumped ahead with power play goals from Brandon Hagel and Dawson Barteaux in the middle stanza.
Austin Schellenberg scored 4:03 into the third period to make it 3-0 Red Deer. Zak Smith added another goal 1:24 later. Josh Tarzwell added a shorthanded goal to make it 5-0.
Matthew Culling finally got the Broncos on the scoreboard with his first WHL goal midway through the third period. The goal was the Broncos second of the season and first in over 201 minutes of action.
The Broncos didn’t need long to find the back of the net again as Connor Horning fired home a goal on a two-man advantage 2:26 later.
Isaac Poulter took the loss in his WHL debut with 35 saves on 40 shots.
Byron Fancy earned the win with 24 saves.
The Broncos dropped to 0-4-0-0, while Red Deer improved to 2-2-0-0.
The Broncos will be back at home on Friday to host the Regina Pats.
