Joel Hofer stopped all 46 shots he faced to lead the Swift Current Broncos to a 1-0 win over the Regina Pats on Saturday.
The 18-year-old goaltender earned his first shutout of the season to end the Broncos’ four-game losing streak.
“I was just seeing the puck,” said Hofer. I was tracking it well. I was making good reads out there. The team played really good in front of me. They made some key blocks and I am glad we got the win.”
The Broncos opened the scoring with a power play goal 10:31 into regulation. Ethan O’Rourke tapped a puck off the post from in close, but Carter Chorney shoveled home the ensuing loose puck for his 10th goal of the season.
The Broncos lost forwards Ben King and Tanner Nagel to injury in the first period and neither returned.
“We just kind of brought it all together and worked together,” said Chorney of the team’s effort without two key forwards. We just kind of put our heads down to the grind and came out with the win.”
Hofer improved to 6-21-2-1 with his second career shutout. Max Paddock made 23 saves to fall to 8-18-1-1.
“It feels pretty good,” said Hofer. “The guys played really good in front of me. The guys stepped up big after Nags and Kinger went down. It was a real character win tonight and I am glad we could get it done.”
The Broncos improved to 8-28-2-1, while Regina dropped to 12-26-1-1.
“It shows a lot of character of the group,” said head coach Dean Brockman. “We could of quit. At times it was ugly, but guys made some sacrifices and found a way to get it done.”
The Broncos power play has struggled most of the season, but they did score the only goal on the man-advantage, despite having to juggle their personnel with Nagel and King out of the line-up.
“I thought we moved the puck better through the seams. We certainly did a better job. We put Billy [Sowa] out there and he did a great job with it. It’s getting better. It’s not where we want it to be, but the game winner was a PP goal,” said Brockman.
The Broncos will continue their seven-game home stand on Wednesday against the Red Deer Rebels.
