The Swift Current Southwest Terminal Broncos clinched the U13 AA provincial championship series with a 5-2 victory over the Tisdale Ramblers on Wednesday in Nipawin.
Kasey Gleim led the Broncos with a hat trick, while Jamie Kirwan and Hunter Wilm also scored.
“It’s huge,” said head coach Travis Moen. “This team, right from the start we’ve had a goal in mind. We knew we had a good team… The goal was to win provincials and the kids bought in. There was obviously some ups and downs with covid, but basically what it came down to was the kids bought in, they worked hard together, the team bonded really well. Through adversity we got stronger and stronger and found a way to win.”
The Broncos had won game one 5-4 in triple overtime in Tisdale one week ago before losing game two 6-4 at home on Sunday.
“In game two I felt like we had a strong game too, just didn’t get some bounces either way,” said Moen. “That’s kind of the way this season has went. We played well against Melville all year and lost game one and had to fight back and win the series. Yorkton, we had to go to game three to win the series. Regina was another tough team we faced. It just kind of shows the resiliency of this team that even if our back was against the wall they come out in a game three, which is a game seven in my book, they just came out and always found a way to win. It shows a lot of character in the room that the kids buckled down and played hard and played smart and found the way to win a game.”
The win marked the Broncos first provincial title since back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. Swift Current previously won U13 AA (peewee) championships in 1976, 1977, 1981, 1996, and 2000.
