Swift Current Broncos portion provided by beat writer Traci Kay:
1993. That was the last time the Swift Current Broncos made it to the WHL final. With powerful players such as Todd Holt, Rick Girard, Jeff Kirwin, Kevin Powell, and Ian Gordon, the Broncos ended up winning the WHL Championship in 1993 against the Portland Winterhawks and punched their ticket to the Memorial Cup, where they lost out against Laval Titans in the tie-breaker.
2018. 25 years later. Here they are again. The Swift Current Broncos, with players such as Colby Sissons, Glenn Gawdin, Tyler Steenbergen, and Aleksi Heponiemi, are back in the WHL Final.
The Broncos and the Silvertips met up in Everett only once this season, the Silvertips taking the 4-1 win against the Swift Current Broncos after both teams played multiple games in a mere few days.
Glenn Gawdin leads Swift Current in the playoffs with 25 points, including nine goals and 16 assists. He’s tied for fourth place on the stats leaderboard in points, and he’s in fifth place in game winning goals with three.
Tyler Steenbergen and Aleksi Heponiemi are tied for second place in points on the Broncos with 24. Heponiemi is also on the stats leaderboard in second in assists with 21, and first in power play assists with 14.
Giorgio Estephan had a breakout series against his former team, the Lethbridge Hurricanes, in the last round. He now sits in third in power play goals with six. In 20 games played, Estephan has accumulated 11 goals and eight assists totalling 19 points.
Colby Sissons continues his journey on the blue line sitting in fifth in power play assists with eight. He’s also earned 18 points throughout 20 games played during playoffs, putting him in fourth in points on the Swift Current team.
Notable mentions go to Sahvan Khaira for his six points in these playoffs, Max Patterson with seven points, and Beck Malenstyn with six points. All three of these players have stepped up in the absence of Gawdin and Minulin while they took some time off to recuperate during the last series. Khaira and Patterson each earned three points in six games against Lethbridge while Malenstyn notched two points in the last game against the Hurricanes.
The Swift Current Broncos have come this far for many reasons. Their offensive spurts have won them games. Their ability to control the plays, win puck battles, and defend the net at the most crucial moments have led them this far. At times, especially while in the lead, they tend to take their foot off the pedal, but, more often than not, they seem to right their wrongs before the end of the game. Home ice advantage has also played a factor for the Broncos. Head coach Manny Viveiros previously claimed, during the WHL Awards on May 2nd, that the Bronco fans have been the teams seventh man. Manny is coming off a Coach Of The Year win at the WHL Awards and Aleksi Heponiemi won the Most Sportsmanlike Award. Those accolades are further proof of a strong club. All of these factors and a strong will to win has led them this far. It could be enough to take them all the way to the Memorial Cup in Regina.
But they will have a huge hurdle to scale, namely the Everett Silvertips. With Carter Hart winning Goaltender of the Year and the Four Broncos Memorial Award for the Player of the Year, the Silvertips will not be an easy team to beat.
Everett Silvertips portion provided by Brandon Rivers.
While it has not been as long for the Everett Silvertips since they last saw the WHL final, they have yet to hoist the Ed Chynoweth Cup as winners of the WHL.
Back in their inaugural season in 2003-04, the Silvertips went on a magical run built around defense and timely scoring. Their top scorer in the postseason was John Dahl, who had 16 points. A defenseman by the name of Mitch Love helped man the blue line.
Now 15 years later, Love is an assistant coach with the ‘Tips and while their defense in front of World Juniors gold winning goalie Carter Hart is solid, they already have four players with 20 points or more in the playoffs.
Leading the way is Washington Capitals prospect Garrett Pilon who has compiled 24 points in 16 games. Pilon plays on Everett’s second line with Connor Dewar (21 points) and Riley Sutter (14). That unit has been tasked with shutting down the opponent’s top line and has not only succeeded in doing that, they’ve provided production as well.
In the second round, Pilon, Sutter and Dewar outscored the unit of NHL first round picks Cody Glass and Kieffer Bellows, along with drafted player Skyler McKenzie 17 points to six. Then in the Western Conference final, they frustrated the unit of first round NHL pick Michael Rasmussen and NHL-drafted players Kyle Olson and Morgan Geekie and outscored them 24 points to 14. Rasmussen’s line had rolled through the playoffs with eight straight wins prior to meeting Everett and Sutter, Pilon and Dewar.
At this point it is to be expected that Everett’s second line will match up with Steenbergen, Gawdin and Heponiemi and their track record is as impressive as they come. Expect Swift Current to try and use home-ice in the first two games to get their top line away form Sutter and co.
Even the last change has not done much for Everett’s opponents though as they are 7-0 away form Angel of the Winds Arena. A perfect record has not been accomplished on the road in the WHL playoffs since the Vancouver Giants went 8-0 in 2006.
Hart has been there for Everett when they have needed him this postseason, but he has not been without his struggles. Each time in the first three rounds, he has given up five goals in a single game. In the two previous series, he bounced back and shut down the opposition in the next games. In the West final, he did not need to as his team came back from down 5-2 in Game 6, to win 6-5 in overtime.
Hart always seems to be in the right position and his anticipation is flat out impressive. Against a team whose majority of players have not seen too much of him, he should have even more of an advantage.
Everett’s overage trio has been leaned upon nearly as heavily as Hart in this playoff run.
Patrick Bajkov (13 goals, eight assists) and his center Matt Fonteyne (20 points) have played a lot with Sean Richards (nine points) and that trio always seems to own the possession and create some high quality looks nearly every shift. Bajkov was challenged by head coach Dennis Williams in the Tri-City series and he responded with a hat-trick.
Fellow overage Kevin Davis scored the series-clinching goal in Game 6 of the West final, his second of the game. Davis is one of the more underrated d-men in the league as he has put up 205 career points in 401 WHL games over five regular seasons and playoff runs with Everett.
Davis and Dallas Stars prospect Ondrej Vala were not paired together often after Vala arrived from the Kamloops Blazers, but Williams often paired them against Glass and co and Rasmussen and his crew, to great success.
If it was thought that loading up against one line would leave them exposed with a younger blue line duo in Jake Christiansen and Wyatte Wylie. Those two have proven that is simply not the case. Christiansen earned the power play that led to Davis’ series-clinching goal and scored the series clincher himself against Portland.
Hometown hero Wylie has risen up the ranks as the season has gone on and now expects his name to be called when the NHL draft goes in June.
Everett has found some unexpected depth scoring from the likes of Reece Vitelli (seven points) and Martin Fasko-Rudas. Those two have found success by just outworking opponents and creating scoring chances for themselves.
Fasko-Rudas missed the last two games of the West final though and his status for the WHL final is unknown.
It all starts on Friday, May 4th, and Saturday, May 5th, in Swift Current when the Broncos will host the first two games before the teams reconvene in Everett, Washington for games three (May 8), four (May 9), and five (May 11), if needed. Games six (May 13) and seven (May 14), if it comes down to the wire, will be played back in Swift Current. Considering the strengths of each team to get this far, this series could easily go to seven games.
