The Kootenay Ice clawed back from three straight deficits to force extra time and overcome the Swift Current Broncos 5-4 on Saturday at Western Financial Place.
Colton Kroeker was the overtime hero, completing a three-point night with the game-winning goal while also collecting two assists in regulation.
Ice captain Cale Fleury had a big night with two powerplay goals, while Gilian Kohler and Colton Veloso rounded out the scoring for Kootenay.
The Broncos’ powerplay was deadly, scoring three goals on the man-advantage with a pair from Aleksi Heponiemi and Tyler Steenbergen, while Glenn Gawdin notched his marker at even strength.
Bailey Brkin started in net for Kootenay, but was pulled after allowing three goals in 13 shots, with Kurtis Chapman taking the reins for the rest of the way, with 12 saves in 13 shots.
The Broncos fielded Logan Flodell between the pipes, who made 31 saves in a losing cause.
Much of the theme from Saturday’s game was bouncing back from an 11-1 road loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers the night before.
“Top to bottom, I thought it was such a huge character win for us, not only coming back in the game, but coming back after a very disappointing effort, game result last night,” said Ice head coach James Patrick. “It’s pretty easy to doubt yourself or be down on yourself after how we played and how outplayed we were in Medicine Hat, so I just thought for us to bounce back, it was a huge character win.
“…We just found a way. I thought we out-chanced them and played really well defensively. The second half of the game, we really didn’t give them much so I was pretty proud of the guys.”
The night started off on a sombre note with a moment of silence for the three victims who died in a tragic accident at the Fernie Memorial Arena last week. Members of the Jr. B Fernie Ghostriders of the KIJHL were present in the stands and also participated in the national anthem.
After puck drop, the Ice quickly went to work and posted their first and only lead of the game when Kohler fed a slick pass to Veloso on the side wall, who then cut across the crease and stuffed in a backhand.
The Ice held the lead till late in the frame, but then got into penalty trouble, and the Broncos were merciless with the man-advantage.
In two successive powerplays, the duo of Heponiemi and Steenbergen made the Ice bleed, with the former posting two goals to put Swift Current in the lead.
Steenbergen’s three points from the night put him at 21 goals and 12 assists in 11 games to start the season. Both Steenbergen and Heponiemi sit atop the WHL scoring race in first and second place, respectively.
Fleury tied up the game in the middle frame when the Ice had a powerplay of their own, teeing up a bomb from the blue line. However, Gadwin put the Broncos back in the lead three minutes later.
But 36 seconds later, the score was knotted once again as Kohler sniped a behind-the-net feed from Veloso.
However, that didn’t last.
Steenbergen scored his goal a couple minutes later and the Broncos rode a 4-3 lead for the rest of the period. It looked like the Ice had tied it up on a buzzer beater goal after Brett Davis got a flukey bounce off Flodell from the side of the net, but the referees waved it off after review, saying that time had officially expired.
In the third frame, Fleury tied the game and earned his second goal of the night, flicking a wrist shot on net that redirected off a body before tickling the twine.
“The goals, I was just lucky enough to get a shot through and there was a good screen in front by Jeff [de Wit] and they went in,” said Fleury, on his pair of powerplay markers.
Heading into overtime, it looked as if the Broncos had it in the bag, but a shot on a wide open net went wide. Transitioning the play back up the Broncos zone on an odd-man rush, Baer fired a pass to Kroeker who managed to beat Flodell and take the win for the Kootenay squad.
“[Alec Baer] made a nice pass,” said Kroeker, “and I don’t know how I got the puck off my stick, but I did and it somehow went into the net, no idea how, but it went in and it’s a good win. Felt good.”
That’s only the second loss of the season for the Broncos, as the Ice did the same against the Moose Jaw Warriors a week ago, as both clubs have had hot starts to their seasons.
“Those are definitely confidence-building wins for us and [Ice head coach] James [Patrick] said before the game you don’t get given confidence, you gotta earn it and those two wins definitely help,” said Fleury.
