Broncos find their way down the stretch
The Swift Current Broncos may have been wishing for a longer regular season after winning two of three games last week as the 24-game Western Hockey League season wound down in Regina for the East Division teams.
Wednesday, the Broncos finished without a win against the Brandon Wheat Kings this season after a 6-1 loss. Five different players scored for the Wheat Kings at they finished three-for-six on the power play at the Subway Hub Centre.
Nolan Ritchie scored twice, while Lynden Mccallum, Rylan Thiessen, Brett Hyland, and Vincent Iorio also scored for the Wheat Kings, who improved to 16-3-2-0 to lead the East Division.
Rookie Mathew Ward scored the Broncos only goal on the power play in the second period.
Isaac Poulter made 27 saves in a losing cause for the Broncos. Ethan Kruger improved to 11-2-1-0 with 17 saves.
The Broncos lost all four games in the season series by a 19-5 final tally.
Thursday, the Broncos finally solved the Regina Pats for a 4-2 win to avoid a season series sweep.
The Broncos got goals from four different players, including the game winner 8:04 into the third period when defenseman Owen Williams faked a point shot and passed to a driving Caleb Wyrostock, who tipped home his fifth goal of the season.
Playing their fifth game in seven days, the Broncos took their first lead with 1:19 remaining in the first period when Michael Farren followed up on a rebound and shoveled the puck home for his eighth goal of the season.
“That’s just a very intelligent play by [Carter] Stebbings. We practice that non-stop and we’ve yet to have an example of that. A great hockey play,” said Head Coach Dean Brockman. “We always tell our guys sticks down in the D-zone and sticks down in the offensive zone.”
The second period was a special teams battle as the Pats took the lead with power play goals from Logan Nijhoff and Carson Denomie. Farren responded late in the period with a power play goal to tie the game 2-2.
Aiden Bulych added an empty net goal in the final minute to seal the win.
Reid Dyck improved to 3-4-0-0 with 31 saves for the Broncos. Spencer Welke fell to 0-2-0-0 with 21 saves.
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