Tyler Lowey / Darwin Knelsen

Home ice the remedy for road woes, Broncos in the drivers seat up 3-2 in Eastern Conference Final

-Red Deer, AB

Coming off a tough two game set in Lethbridge, the Broncos needed to find some of the magic that gave them a 2-0 series lead. Both wins came on home ice where the Broncos had gone 6-3 in the playoffs before tonight’s action.

Meanwhile Lethbridge has gone undefeated at home, now 8-0 in the playoffs. The table was set on Wednesday to guarantee at least one more home game for the Hurricanes. They will now need that game to stave off elimination by forcing a game 7 back in Swift Current on Tuesday May 1st.

Both teams did well defensively in the first half of game 5, with Swift Current edging Lethbridge 12-8 in shots after 20 minutes. While both goalies were able to remain at goose eggs, neither was tested by much more than harmless shots. There were two power plays a side and neither were able to generate much offense, despite Swift Current welcoming back captain Glenn Gawdin and Artyom Minulin.

The second period was playing out much like the first, with neither team registering a shot through the first four minutes.

The action really picked up after the radio timeout at the midway point of the second. The teams traded a few chances before Sahvan Khaira’s point shot at 13:12 was tipped in front of the net by Giorgio Estephan. His tipped shot would take a rebound off the pad of Logan Flodell and land right near the waiting Max Patterson. His fifth of the playoffs would give the Broncos their first lead of the game and first goal in 78 minutes and 16 seconds.

With 1:15 to go in the frame, the Hurricanes would come back to tie the game at one. A tic-tac-toe scoring play between Tate Olsen, Igor Merezkho and Zane Franklin would find the back of the net. Franklin would be credited with the goal as his shot flew over the out stretched Stuart Skinner. On the play Olsen would also take a roughing penalty, which may lead to some supplemental discipline. This also spilled over into a fight between Merezhko and Josh Anderson.

On the ensuing power play and with just 48 seconds left in the power play, Colby Sissons passed the puck from his own end to Aleksi Heponiemi. While working his way through the neutral zone and into the Hurricane end, Heponiemi had to fight to keep the puck. He managed to slide the puck over to Estephan in the slot and he beat Flodell to re-take the lead heading to the locker room after 40 minutes.

Things would get really crazy in the third period. It would start with another Broncos goal.

A scramble draw deep in the Hurricanes end would get passed around from the face off dot to the side boards, to the blueline and then across the blueline to Sissons. He crept into the faceoff circle area and ripped a slap shit past the sprawling Flodell to put the Broncos up two goals.

A minute and 20 seconds later the Hurricanes would cut the lead to a single goal.

WHL playoff leading scorer Brad Morrison would net his 16th goal of the playoffs. This time it would be a scramble draw in the Broncos end, won by Bellerive who put it right on Morrison’s stick. Morrison’s quick release surprised everyone and beat Skinner to make it 3-2.

Giorgio Estephan would come back to haunt his former team just a few moments later when he scored his second of the night.

A turnover by the Hurricanes right in front of their own net landed right on the stick of Tyler Steenbergen. It was just him and Estephan and a quick pass to him was burried before the Hurricanes could turn back around to bail out Flodell. The Broncos restored their two goal lead.

With more than three minutes to play, Brent Kisio pulled his goalie in favour of an extra attacker. The pressure and hard work paid off as the Broncos took a slashing penalty with 2:51 remaining in regulation.

After working the puck around the Broncos end while 6-on-4, the puck would enter the crease area and there would be sticks from both teams whacking at the puck. With Igor Zudilov open on the left side of Skinner, he was able to bang the puck home to bring the Hurricanes back to within a goal.

That would be as close as they would come. Home ice is where the wins are in this series.

Next up is game 6 in Lethbridge on Monday puck drop is at 7PM local time.