Broncos continue lengthy home stand
The Swift Current Broncos concluded a three-game week on a high note as they upset the Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday after dropping close games to the Red Deer Rebels and the Seattle Thunderbirds during a seven-game home stand.
Tuesday, the Broncos put up a valiant effort, but lost 3-2 to the visiting Rebels.
The Broncos took the lead 1:56 into regulation when Carter Chorney fired a juicy rebound into the open net for his 11th goal of the season.
Dawson Barteaux tied the game midway through the period with a screened point shot on the power play. Brandon Hagel put the Rebels ahead with his 23rd goal midway through the second period as the Rebels fired another 14 shots on net in the middle stanza.
The Broncos tied the game midway through the third period when Joona Kiviniemi notched his 11th goal of the season. Zak Smith collected a rebound minutes later and knocked home the game-winning goal for the Rebels.
Broncos rookie Isaac Poulter, who promises to have an increased role following the trade of starter Joel Hofer, made 34 saves to fall to 2–80-0 for the Broncos. Byron Fancy earned the win with 21 saves for the Rebels.
Saturday, the Broncos didn’t quit until the final buzzer, but lost 5-3 to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds.
Fatigue, surprisingly, was not an issue for the Thunderbirds. Playing their sixth road game in nine days, Seattle scored four of the first five goals to skate past the Broncos.
Seattle got out to a quick start with a pair of first-period goals from Sean Richards and Jarret Tyska. The Thunderbirds stretched their lead in the second period with another 2-1 advantage on the scoreboard. Tyler Carpendale scored early in the period before newly named Broncos’ captain Tanner Nagel tipped home a power play goal to get the Broncos on the board. Richards scored his second goal of the game on a blown coverage to put Seattle up 4-1.
The Broncos played one of their best periods of the season in the third when they fired 20 shots on goal and got two goals from overage defenseman Matthew Stanley.
Andrej Kukuca scored a breakaway goal for the visitors to ensure the Broncos would never come within one goal.
Poulter made 29 saves on 34 shots to fall to 2-9-0-0. Cole Schwebius made 31 saves for Seattle.
Sunday, the Broncos won the goaltending and special teams battles to defeat the visiting Wheat Kings 4-2.
Overage goaltender Riley Lamb made 47 saves in his Broncos debut as they scored twice on three power play opportunities.
“Yeah it was definitely a game to remember for sure, the first game with the Swift Current Broncos,” said Lamb. “It was good. I think I played pretty well, but the guys in front of me definitely helped me out. They let me see a lot of shots. They let me just eat the pucks from the outside, which was good. It was just a good team win.”
“We need those saves at times for sure, especially as a young group that doesn’t know how to play back-toback games in this league. We got a strong performance,” said Head Coach Dean Brockman.
The Broncos led 2-1 after one period after firing 12 shots on goal. Ian Briscoe notched his first goal as a Bronco with a quick shot off a face-off scramble. Brandon took advantage of a defensive breakdown to tie the game on a Zach Wyntinck goal. The Broncos regained the lead when Ethan O’rourke tapped home a power play centering feed from Briscoe with 2:29 left in the period.
Luka Burzan tied the game midway through the second period with a power play goal. Alex Moar put the Broncos back in front with a seeing-eye shot that found the top corner 1:59 later.
Nagel added a third-period backhand goal and Lamb made another 16 saves in the final frame to secure the win, including a highlight reel glove save off Stelio Mattheos.
Lamb had joined the Broncos earlier in the week after they dealt Hofer to Portland.
“I was just trying to stay calm and hopefully get a win. Just trying not to let too many in. Honestly, I was kind of nervous coming in. Making the jump back to the Major Junior level is tough. I just came in and tried my best.”
It may have been his first game with the Broncos, but Lamb had appeared in 73 WHL games with the Red Deer Rebels over the past two seasons.
“I think it’s huge,” he said of his WHL experience. “I think the first five minutes got me back up to pace and then after that it was just like deja vu, just back in the league. Knowing the pace and what guys are going to do helped out a lot.”
Lamb had played in 26 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League games with Weyburn this season before being traded to the Yorkton Terriers where he suited up for three games before jumping back to the WHL with the Broncos.
“Yorkton has a really good squad and it was kind of a tough decision to leave there for here,” said the Rivers, MB native. “At the end of the day you want to play at the highest level possible. Everyone here wants to make a career out of it. It’s just playing at the highest level possible to try and get to the next level, whether that’s school or semi-pro, or anything like that it always helps playing at the highest level.”
Ethan Kruger took the loss with 20 saves to fall to 4–6-1-1.
The Broncos improved to 9-30-2-1, while Brandon fell to 17-18-3-3.
The weekend marked the Broncos first two games after the WHL trade deadline.
“We’ve got to get better with our play and with our structure,” said Brockman. “We’re happy with where we’re at. We’ve got some young guys that don’t know the grind or anything like that. It’s up to our older guys to kind of lead that way. We just hope that as we go into a busier schedule, a tougher schedule, we know that teams aren’t going to give us points. We’ve got to play harder and play the way we want to.”
The Broncos will conclude their seven-game home stand on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers. The two teams will rematch on Saturday in Medicine Hat for the Broncos first road game in 18 days.