Two weeks ago, the Winnipeg ICE had an insane offensive performance in the second period against the Saskatoon Blades. They went on to win that game, 7-6.
Fast forward to Saturday, October 12 and there just seems to be something about Saskatchewan for the first year Winnipeg squad.
Down 5-1 against Swift Current after 20 minutes, Winnipeg showed how resilient they can be as they staged the most improbable of comebacks to steal two points in a 6-5 shootout win against the Broncos.
In a game where they peppered Isaac Poulter with 57 shots, Isaac Johnson and Owen Pederson both scored two goals and Jesse Makaj came in and played excellent as the ICE will travel home with a weekend split.
The scoring all started just 46 seconds into the game when Isaac Johnson scored his third goal of the season. Chase Hartje and Nolan Orzeck notched the assists.
Playing on their home ice and looking for their third win of the season, Swift Current took advantage of a young Gage Alexander who started in net for Winnipeg.
At the 3:11 mark, Ethan Regnier scored an unassisted goal, his second of the season to tie it up. Things cooled down offensively for the next just more than 10 minutes. That’s when Swift Current pulled off something I surely haven’t seen.
On the power play, Ben King hammered home his second of the campaign with Alex Moar earning the assist as the Broncos took a 2-1 lead with 4:12 left in the opening period.
Just 24 seconds later, Aiden Bulych scored his second goal of the season. The goal that made it 3-1 was assisted by Carter Chorney and Hendrik De Klerk.
If you thought 24 seconds was fast, Swift Current clearly thought it wasn’t fast enough. 21 seconds after Bulych’s goal, Alex Moar netted his first of the season. Ethan Regnier and Kye Buchanan assisted on the marker to make it 4-1 Swift Current.
After that goal, Gage Alexander was pulled and Makaj came in. He made his debut on Friday night against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Determined to give his team a chance to win, things got off on the wrong foot. With just one minute left in the opening frame, Swift Current scored again.
This time it was Joona Kiviniemi who scored his third of the season. Ethan Regnier capped off a great opening 20 with another assist. He had one goal and two assists in the first and Swift Current led 5-1.
Clearly whatever was said in the Winnipeg dressing room after 20 changed the outlook of the game. Jakin Smallwood trimmed the deficit to three at the 5:40 mark with an unassisted goal. Now down 5-2, Owen Pederson took over the contest.
He scored his first of the season and fifth as a member of the ICE franchise as Winnipeg was now down just 5-3. Reece Harsch had the lone assist.
Still with plenty of work to do, Winnipeg continued doing what they’ve clearly shown they can do and that’s score. Pederson brought the game within one with 9:02 left in the second. Reece Harsch got his second straight assist while Carson Lambos also got in on the action with an assist.
The game went from Swift Current being up 5-1 after 20, to them still being up after 40, but it was just 5-4 now.
Winnipeg had four chances on the power play and they made one count and it came at a huge time. Trailing by that same 5-4 scoreline, Isaac Johnson fired home a backdoor one timer past Poulter to tie the game up with less than seven minutes left.
Chase Hartje and Benjamin Zloty had the assists on the goal that tied this wild affair at five.
No more goals were scored in the remaining part of regulation time, so we were free hockey bound. Winnipeg fired five of their 57 shots in overtime, but they couldn’t beat Poulter who made 52 saves on the night. Swift Current also had three shots in overtime for a 65-minute total of 32.
We had 10 goals, but we didn’t have a winner through 65 so the game was shootout bound. In it, Connor McClennon was the only shooter that scored. Makaj stopped all three Swift Current skaters as Winnipeg absolutely stole two points from the home town Broncos.
Winnipeg will return home where they will welcome the Saskatoon Blades next weekend for a pair of games.
Swift Current will now kick off a tough five-game BC road trip on Tuesday in Kamloops. The trip includes games against Kelowna, Victoria, Vancouver, and Prince George. They don’t play another home game until Saturday, October 26 against Brandon.
Swift Current is now 2-4-0-1 while Winnipeg is 4-4-1.
ICE CHIPS:
- Swift Current has now allowed at least five goals four times this season. It’s the first time that a game went past regulation and they lost. They previously beat Calgary and Edmonton in overtime.
- Winnipeg snapped their first three-game losing streak of the season.
- Jesse Makaj made 21 saves on 22 shots.
- Winnipeg out shot Swift Current 22-6 in the second period when they outscored them, 3-0.
- The ICE have 27 goals this season and that’s more than seven Eastern Conference teams.
- Winnipeg has earned seven-of-eight possible points playing in Saskatchewan this season.
