Broncos one win away from dream Memorial Cup scenario
Goaltender skinner has been lights-out for Swift Current, especially on the road
One more Swift Current Broncos victory would also be a huge win for the 2018 Memorial Cup.
Two teams from southern Saskatchewan in the same Reginabased Canadian Hockey League championship tournament? Just imagine the spectacle, with the Broncos providing a final, feverish push in terms of ticket sales to complement the presence of the host Regina Pats.
“Swift Current would help a lot,” Shaun Semple, a co-owner of the Pats and the chair of Regina’s Memorial Cup host committee, noted earlier this week.
The Broncos are on the verge of creating that dream scenario.
After posting back-to-back road victories over the Everett Silvertips, Swift Current will have three opportunities to secure its first WHL title since 1993.
The Broncos and Silvertips headed to Everett, Wash., in a 1-1 tie after the best-of-seven series began in Swift Current last weekend.
Everett, with home-ice advantage, lost 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday before falling 1-0 on Wednesday evening.
It was (get this) the fourth road shutout of the playoffs for the Broncos’ Stuart Skinner, who had thrice blanked the Moose Jaw Warriors — the WHL’s regular-season champions — in the second round.
“Obviously, it’s a different atmosphere than back at home,” Skinner, whom the Broncos acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan. 9, told reporters after Wednesday’s game.
“Just like I said when playing against Lethbridge, when fans kind of get on me and I get chirped a lot, I get more dialed in and more focused. It’s almost a good thing whenever I’m playing away. I think I get more jacked up and more focused.”
With five shutouts overall, Skinner is one shy of the WHL’s single-season playoff record, set by the Vancouver Giants’ Dustin Slade — once a combustible presence in goal for the Pats — in 2006.
In the league final, Skinner boasts statistics that are superior to those of his doubly decorated opposite number, Carter Hart — the WHL’s player and goaltender of the year this season.
Skinner has a .950 save percentage and a 1.68 goals-against average, compared to Hart’s figures of .927 and 2.14, over the past four games.
In both cases, though, the goaltenders have been stingy — a major reason each of the four games has been decided by a onegoal margin.
It is therefore obvious that Everett will not be easily dispatched, but this is a Swift Current team noted for its finishing touch.
Against Moose Jaw, remember, the Broncos humiliated the host Warriors 6-0 in Game 7.
Better yet for the Broncos, the 2-3-2 scheduling format works to their advantage. If Everett can extend the series Friday by winning its final home game of the 2018 post-season, the teams will return to Swift Current for games on Sunday and, if necessary, Monday.
“We’re playing with a lot of passion now,” Skinner said. “At the same time, it’s not over yet and we haven’t done anything. We have to make sure we keep on playing with that passion and just keep on doing what we’re doing.”
Broncos defenceman Colby Sissons echoed those sentiments.
“We’ve got to keep the same mindset that we’ve had all playoffs, and all series,” he said during the media conference after Game 4. “We’ve got to play desperate. They’re going to be coming out desperate as well and we’ve got to one-up it. We’re so close.”
So close to the third WHL championship in franchise history.
And so close to Regina, home of the 2018 Memorial Cup.