The Swift Current Broncos won a wild game on Saturday Night at home, a 6-3 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings in a game that had it all.
The game slowly approached a crescendo in front a sold out InnovationPlex as it was just 1-0 after one for the Broncos courtesy of an Owen Pickering powerplay goal late in the frame. The offence came to play in the second period as the Wheat Kings scored twice in less than a minute, courtesy of Jayden Wiens and Mateo Michels.
That was the only time the Wheat Kings held a lead as the Broncos turned things around after that. Interim Head Coach Taras McEwen said the team gained some energy after the Wheat Kings took the lead.
“In the second period, after they score those early goals, I thought we just picked up the pace and tried to kill plays and be hard on our sticks,” McEwen said.
Ryan McCleary scored for his 100th career point to tie the game back up, and that was followed by goals from Josh Filmon and Clarke Caswell before the halfway point of the second period. Each team had a few powerplays through the first 40 minutes as the game took a physical personality as the game progressed, but only the Broncos scored on the man advantage.
The third period saw the Wheat Kings bring the game back to a one-goal game as Caleb Hadland scored for Brandon. The one goal game only lasted momentarily as Mathew Ward notched his 200th WHL point with a goal 14 seconds after Hadland had scored for Brandon.
The game stayed that way as emotions rose through the final minutes of the game, and things blew up as Conor Geekie scored an empty net powerplay goal to make it a 6-3 game which led to a couple penalties. As the final buzzer went, more physicality took place as all eight players on the ice grabbed on and wrestled and fought as the referees sorted through the melees. There were a total of 13 different infractions at the 20 minute mark of the third period.
McEwen added that he was happy to see his team stand up for each other at the end of the game, and the sold out InnovationPlex fans were a big energy source for the team.
“We have really good passionate fans that we get a lot of energy off of,” he said. “So to play when we have the crowds like we did tonight, obviously they gave us a lot of energy.”
The Broncos were ultimately 2-for-6 on the powerplay, and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Reid Dyck made 15 saves for the victory as well as the Broncos moved to within one point of Medicine Hat for the Central Division lead thanks to a Tigers loss to the Prince Albert Raiders. The Broncos will meet the Raiders on Tuesday in Prince Albert.