Broncos have a lot of respect for surging Pats in playoffs
Despite finishing well ahead of Regina in regular season, Swift Current wary
Recent history suggests the Swift Current Broncos didn’t send the Regina Pats a Christmas card last year, but there have been signs of mutual respect heading into their first-round WHL playoff series.
Swift Current earned the Pats’ respect by compiling the secondbest record in the league this season (48-17-5-2) — finishing 16 points ahead of Regina (40-25-61).
That said, Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny Viveiros is throwing those numbers out the window as his team prepares for Game 1 of a best-of-seven matchup on Friday in Swift Current.
“They’re as good as any team in this league, especially after the trade deadline,” Viveiros said of the Pats. “They made some significant moves to get better. Over the last month or five weeks they’re probably the hottest team in the Western Hockey League.”
Indeed, the Pats went 11-1-1 in their final 13 regular-season games, including a 3-2 overtime win and a 3-2 overtime loss to Swift Current on the final weekend of the schedule.
In the process, Regina caught the Broncos’ attention.
“From our side, it’s no surprise whatsoever,” Viveiros said. “Their core players are as good as anybody in the country and we have so much respect for their coaching staff. They have those kids playing the right way at the right time. They’re good. They’re really good.”
The Pats and Broncos got upclose and personal in the second round of last year’s playoffs, going the distance in a tight seven-game series. Regina came back from a 3-1 deficit, denying Swift Current a second straight upset win after it knocked off the Moose Jaw Warriors in Round 1.
Although both teams have changed a great deal, the Broncos haven’t forgotten how close they came to eliminating last year’s WHL regular-season champions.
“We were pretty confident going into the playoffs last year and they certainly were, too,” said Viveiros. “(The outcome) shows how small things that happen in a series can make such a big difference on both sides.
“Our (returning ) players certainly have a desire to hopefully change those things this year. Same thing for Regina and how close they were to going to the Memorial Cup. Both teams carry a wealth of experience going into these playoffs.”
Although it was difficult for the Broncos to move past last year’s second-round defeat, it did provide a barometer for Viveiros while building his team in 2017-18.
That’s part of the reason why he was so aggressive in adding quality players prior to the WHL trade deadline, including defenceman Josh Anderson and forwards Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn.
“Going against Regina in the seven-game series, we didn’t have enough depth,” explained Viveiros. “We needed another defenceman. We lost a key forward in Lane Pederson (to injury). At times we were forced to even use an (affiliate) player like Logan Barlage in the playoffs. I thought he handled himself very well but it was still a little bit over his head at that particular time.
“For us, depth was everything. We like to think we added the right pieces and so far those kids have been really good for us.”
Like the Broncos, Regina’s depth was tested by injuries in last year’s playoffs. That’s why — in addition to improving their top-end talent at the deadline — Pats head coach/ GM John Paddock made sure to add experienced role players who can step into larger roles if necessary.
That’s a lesson he learned after losing to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the league final — and dodging a bullet earlier against Swift Current.
“There are going to be injuries in playoffs,” added Viveiros. “We quite frankly throughout the playoffs ran some of our defencemen ragged. I remember that one triple-overtime game (versus Regina). Max Lajoie played over 60 minutes. Some of our guys played extremely well, but under those circumstances you have to have depth to eat up some of those minutes.
“That has given us an opportunity since the trade deadline to really reduce the minutes of some of our players so they’re fresh and ready to go into the playoffs.”
For us, depth was everything. We like to think we added the right pieces and so far those kids have been really good for us