Connor Gabriel (Saskatoon, SK) would be the hero in round ten of the shootout Saturday night, helping the Swift Current Broncos take a 6-5 win at home Saturday night in front of 2525 strong at InnovationPlex.
A seven goal first period took centre stage with the Blades scoring the first pair from Hunter Laing at 4:31 to make it 1-0 Blades. Tanner Scott would follow up at 6:57 pushing the lead to 2-0 before the Broncos would get in on the action when Clarke Caswell (Brnadon, MB) would counter on a Saskatoon turn-over for his 17th of the campaign from Trae Wilke (Saskatoon, SK). Saskatoon came right back when Hayden Harsanyi would make it a two-goal advantage again for Saskatoon back-handing his 8th of the season at 14:51. But the Broncos didn’t go away when Carlin Dezainde (Calgary, AB) capped a passing play with Trae Wilke at 17:28 for his 27th of the season and then 23 seconds later, Luke Mistelbacher (Steinbach, MB) would solve Blades tender Ethan McCallum for his 36th of the season tying the game at 3-3 with Rylan Gould (Headingly, MB) & Caswell being benefactors on the Mistelbacher notch. But the period would end with the Blades taking the lead back in the final minute with 23.1 seconds left where Grayden Siepmann would walk in and score his 8th of the season to give the Blades the slim lead after 1.
After a bust first, the second would just see the one mark go past Ethan McCallum and the Broncos would cash-in on the power player where Carlin Dezainde would back-hand his second of the night for his 28th of the season from Luke Mistelbacher & Hunter Mayo (Saskatoon, SK) at 5:48. The Broncos would outshoot the Blades 12-6 in period.
In the third the Blades were on top of things 43 seconds in when David Lewandowski would snap home his 8th of the season past Reid Dyck to put the Blades in the lead for the third time on the night at 5-4. But Carlin Dezainde would not be denied in securing his first WHL hat-trick a few minutes at 3:29 from Rylan Gould to tie things up again for Swift Current. The Blades would outshoot the Broncos in the period 11-8 but overtime would be required with both teams having chances to win but it would take the shootout to determine the winner. Hunter Laing scored first for Saskatoon in round seven, putting the pressure on Hunter Mayo to score and he would make no mistake. Into round ten the Broncos would get their chance to finally put the Blades away and Connor Gabriel would beat Ethan McCallum giving the Broncos a two-point night against their East Division rivals.
In the win the Broncos move 28-22-1-1 and trying to gain some ground on the Blades and Wheat Kings in the Eastern Conference standings.
Next up for the Broncos, a home tilt on Family Day against the Calgary Hitmen Monday afternoon at 5 PM at InnovationPlex. Tickets are going fast get yours at scbroncos.com or visit The Stable on gameday.