Swift Current Broncos somewhat successful on American road trip

With a possible 10 points on the line for the Swift Current Broncos during their American road trip, they’re coming home somewhat successful with five points. This has never been an easy trip for the Swift Current team. Taking five points home is always a good thing during their west coast visit.

With wins against Tri-City and Portland, the Broncos we’re off to a good start. But they seemed to have some struggles as they took on Seattle, Everett, and Spokane, resulting in one point for an overtime loss over the last three games of the trip.

January 20, Swift Current Broncos visit Seattle Thunderbirds

With Joel Hofer in net and Matteo Gennaro out of the lineup in Kent, Washington, the Broncos opened the scoring. Glenn Gawdin notched his first point of the night just over a minute into the period. Hope was short-lived as the Thunderbirds would come back to tie it and the teddy bears would fly during their annual Teddy Bear Toss. Seattle would add to their tally, but Colby Sissions would tie the game 2-2 in the last couple minutes.

The middle period was all Seattle as they set the entire pace for 20 minutes. They earned two goals before Gawdin would head to the box on a boarding call. Tempers flared, the crowd got involved with their “Broncos suck” chant, and Seattle would pot a third goal of the period. Swift Current would make a push and get one back, but the Thunderbirds would take over again at the end of the period to double the score, 6-3 for the home team.

I don’t know what was said, if anything at all, in the dressing room during the second intermission, but whatever it was seemed to work. Tyler Steenbergen would notch his first goal since returning from the World Juniors and it would open up the third period for the Broncos. Giorgio Estephan would follow soon after with another goal, putting Swift Current within one. With more pressure on the home team, Beck Malenstyn would be the third period star to tie the game 6-6 to force overtime.

Even though Swift Current fought back from a three-goal deficit in the second period, overtime would solve nothing and they’d head to the shootout. It took eight rounds in the shootout to find a winner of the game. Steenbergen scored to keep the Broncos alive, Minulin would keep them in it as well, but, in the end, Seattle would come out on top with a score of 7-6.

Artyom Minulin

January 21, Swift Current Broncos visit Everett Silvertips

Matteo Gennaro returned to the lineup and Stuart Skinner returned to the net in this hard-hitting game. The Broncos had played three games in three days and this game seemed to elude them.

Andrew Fyten opened the game, not with a goal, but with a checking from behind penalty, which didn’t set the tone in a good way for the visiting team. Everett would retaliate with a goal a few minutes later, and again about a minute later to put the home team up 2-0. With bodies flying all over the ice, hit after hit being thrown from both teams, the Silvertips would score again, but it would ultimately be ruled a high-stick and called off. Fyten would get one back for the Broncos later in the period. The score was 2-1 heading into the middle frame.

The Broncos couldn’t seem to set anything up and the home team would spend a lot of time in the Swift Current zone, but Skinner was solid in net. With the persistence of the Silvertips in front of the offensive net, Skinner could only hold out for so long and Everett would score again, taking a two-goal lead, 3-1. Penalties would bite the Swift Current team in the second period, and they wouldn’t be able to dig themselves out of the 3-1 hole.

The Broncos would take more and more penalties in the last 20 minutes that would be detrimental to their play. Everett would take a 4-1 lead and then anger would arise. Estephan would take a shot at an Everett player while Malenstyn would be pinned to the ice by a Silvertips player who could barely be pried off him by the linesmen. The Everett players clearly got in the heads of the Broncos and Swift Current wouldn’t be able to set their own pace or play their style of game for the rest of the period. It was a messy game with some dirty plays and a lot of players being sent to their dressing rooms early. Everett would win this one 4-1.

You can read the DubNetwork recap by Brandon Rivers here.

January 23, Swift Current Broncos visit Spokane Chiefs

In spite of the rivalry, the Broncos and Chiefs had one thing in common. Dan Lambert, head coach of the Spokane Chiefs was a Swift Current Broncos defensemen and part of the 1989 Memorial Cup winning team. After spending some time coaching the Kelowna Rockets, Lambert made the move to Spokane to take on the role of bench boss in the American Division. But that didn’t mean he would show mercy to his former team.

With Stuart Skinner in net, Swift Current had one last hurdle to jump before they could head home for a few days off. Cole Gable and Sahvan Khaira had minor injuries that left them out of the lineup, while Quinton Waitzner was a healthy scratch.

Even though Kailer Yamamoto may have been sent down from the NHL earlier this season, it didn’t stop him from showing his offensive prowess for his WHL team. 31 seconds into the game, Yamamoto opened the scoring to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Later in the period, Beck Malenstyn and Matteo Gennaro had a great chance on net, but couldn’t get a shot off. It was Giorgio Estephan to the rescue before the first period buzzer. He tied the game 1-1, but Spokane would answer back with another goal before the end of the period to make the score 2-1 heading into the second period.

(Darwin Knelsen)

Early in the second, Artyom Minulin would tie the game again, 2-2 and give hope to the Swift Current team. But the wind was taken out of their sails as Skinner was knocked down and Spokane would score again. Eventually the goal would be called off due to goalie interference, but a bad play at the end of the period would put the Broncos on the defensive again. Josh Anderson had a chance on net, but his stick broke, leading to a turnover. The puck would end up in the Swift Current zone and, after pin-balling around the net, Spokane would take the lead 3-2 again. Anderson would be visibly aggravated by the play and end up with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty near the end of the period.

With more than enough power play chances to tie the game, Swift Current couldn’t capitalize with an extra skater. A Broncos turnover would give the Chiefs a two-goal lead, 4-2, but the visiting team would have some hope near the end of the game. With Skinner on the bench and Spokane in the box, Swift Current had a 6-on-4 chance to get those goals back. And when Spokane would take another penalty, the ratio went up to 6-on-3. But it wasn’t enough for Swift Current to make an epic comeback and they fell 4-2 in their last American Division game.

Here is the DubNetwork recap by Brandon Rivers.

Swift Current seemed to be weathering a bit of a storm with all the new players who are fitting into the team. Everyone is doing a good job, but there seemed to be a period of adjustment during this trip. Hopefully they can shake off the inconsistencies soon and get back to playing their game as individuals and as a newly formed team. Once these guys start working together at their best, this team will be unstoppable. The raw talent and fine-tuned skills will prove that the Broncos will make one heck of a run in playoffs this season.

They have a few days off before returning to home ice in a home and home weekend against the Regina Pats that starts Saturday afternoon, when the game will be televised on Sportsnet.