Bantam Broncos reach league final and Western Canadians
A pair of goals from captain Reed Jacobson helped send the Swift Current Kabos Raiders to the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League championship series Sunday.
Jacobson scored twice in the second period to put the Broncos ahead 3-1 on their way to a 4-2 win over the visiting Prairie Storm in the third and deciding game of the South Division final.
Mac Gross had tallied to open the scoring and Cash Arntsen scored into an empty net to seal the win. Levi Lamotte, Keagon Little, Riley Dekowny, and Rhys O’neill all added assists and Jacob Herman earned the win in goal.
“I thought the guys played very well,” said coach Trent Mccleary. “We have a game plan and we stuck to it. We got some production out of some guys and we locked everything down in the third period pretty much to get the win.”
The Broncos had finished second in the South Division regular season with a 19-4-4-3 record. They swept the Estevan Bruins in two games to open the playoffs and then disposed of the Regina Monarchs in three games before coming up against the Prairie Storm, who had upset the top ranked Yorkton Terriers.
“It’s what we come to training camp for. We have a goal and we are two wins from that goal. We still have a lot of work to do. The guys played good,” added Mccleary.
Game three of the North Division final was being played between the Saskatoon Maniacs and the Sask Valley Vipers.
The Sask Valley Vipers defeated the Maniacs 4-3 to clinch the series. The win also guaranteed the Broncos a spot at Western Canadians on March 30 – April 2 in Martensville and Warman as the Vipers are the host team.
The Broncos had opened the series with a 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Prairie Storm Wednesday.
The Broncos, playing without suspended captain Reed Jacobson, lost their next leading scorer Riley Dekowny early in the contest to a checking from behind game misconduct.
Without much of their scoring punch, the Broncos were still able to gain a 2-0 lead on goals from Cash Arntsen and Rhett Evjen. Noah Schindel, Hayden Wilm, and Gross added assists.
The Storm replied with goals from Hunter Degelman and Lucius Schmidt to force overtime. Schmidt ended the game only 3:08 into the first overtime period when he converted a rebound for the game winner.
Drayden Ramage got the win with 27 saves. Herman took the loss despite making 38 saves on 41 shots.
Friday, the Broncos kept their season alive with two quick goals to defeat the host Prairie Storm 4-3 in White City.
Wilm and Dekowny scored goals 37 seconds apart over the final 4:17 of the second period to help the Broncos even up the semi-final series.