The Swift Current Broncos got back into the win column with a 4-3 shootout win over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors.
Joey Rocha stopped all three Warriors in the shootout and Zach Pantelakis scored the only goal for the Broncos just hours after it was announced that Head Coach Dean DeSilva had stepped down from the team after being suspended by the Western Hockey League.
“It’s huge,” said Rocha after the win. “It’s big for morale, especially just getting Gauch back too. It’s just a lot of fun winning with this group and it’s something we want to keep doing.”
The Broncos played a solid opening period, but came out of it trailing 2-1. They opened the scoring 2:51 into regulation when Jaxen Gauchier scored on his first shift of the season. The Warriors tied the game with an Ethan Semeniuk goal and then took the lead with a power play goal from Aiden Ziprick.
Pantelakis kept the puck on a two-on-one to tie the game midway through the second period with his seventh goal of the season. The Broncos took the lead minutes later when Noah Kosick finished off a pretty three-way passing play from Stepan Kuryachenkov and Gauchier.
The Warriors tied the game with 54.3 seconds left when Pavel McKenzie scored with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker.
Rocha improved to 8–8-0-0 with 30 saves over 65 minutes. Kyle Jones made 20 saves to fall to 3–3-1-1.
“It was just a good, complete effort by the guys,” said Rocha. “I think we really battled. We really wanted this one and we really needed it, gave it our all throughout the game. I don’t think there was one period in that game where we took it easy. I think that’s the standard going forward. We battle on every play, we win the red ribbons, and I think we can beat any team in this league.”
The Broncos improved to 8-11-1-0 to sit ninth in the Eastern Conference. Moose Jaw fell to 10-9-1-1, sixth in the conference.
The Broncos will be idle until they visit the Saskatoon Blades on Nov. 21.
