The Swift Current Broncos (28-27-1-2) had goals from seven different players while Joey Rocha made 24 saves for his first career shutout in an 8-0 rout of the Edmonton Oil Kings (8-49-3-0) Saturday night.
Rocha’s first big save came in the opening seconds of the game as the Oil Kings had a 2-on-1 rush, but Rocha denied Cole Miller on his shot from the left wing.
Swift Current’s first power play of the game came 3:48 into the first period, and they opened the scoring on that man advantage. Connor Hvidston skated into the Edmonton zone down the left wing and tried to send the puck to the back post where Drew Englot was headed.
The pass deflected off the stick of Tom Cadieux and over the blocker of Kolby Hay, giving Swift Current a 1-0 lead 4:10 into the game. Owen Pickering and Mathew Ward picked up assists on the goal.
Rocha came up with another big save a few minutes later which directly led to a Broncos goal. With the Oil Kings forechecking behind the Broncos net, the puck popped out in front and Cadieux had a great chance from in tight. Rocha stayed with Cadieux and while falling to his stomach was able to reach out with the glove and deny the tying goal.
Sam McGinley picked up the rebound and fired it ahead to Josh Davies on left wing. Davies skated into the Edmonton zone and beat Hay under the glove from the left circle, giving the Broncos a 2-0 lead 8:21 into the game.
Swift Current took their 2-0 lead into the intermission, outshooting Edmonton 13-6.
Hay made the save of the night off the opening faceoff of the second period. The puck was sliding into the Edmonton zone and would have been a breakaway for Caleb Wyrostok, so Hay came out in between the faceoff circles to clear it away.
He put it right onto the tape of Josh Filmon who appeared to have an open net, but Hay dove back and was able to take the goal away with the paddle of his stick to keep it 2-0 early in the second.
Rocha’s finest save of the second period was denying Mason Finley on a breakaway, keeping his team in the lead.
The game remained 2-0 until late in the period when Swift Current went to their third power play of the game. Just nine seconds into the man advantage, Ward slid the puck to Filmon in the right circle and he snuck a shot through the five hole of Hay for his 40th goal of the season.
The Broncos took a 3-0 lead into the third period, outshooting the Oil Kings 30-16.
Swift Current began the third period shorthanded but still added to their lead. Much like Hvidston’s opening goal of the game, he tried to work the puck across the Edmonton crease but it deflected off an Oil Kings stick and into the net. It was the Broncos 14th shorthanded goal of the season.
Three and a half minutes later, Caleb Wyrostok jumped on a rebound for the Broncos third power play goal of the game. Braeden Lewis then scored on a short breakaway five minutes later to push the Broncos lead to 6-0.
After Brady Birnie scored his 16th goal of the season at 13:27 of the third, the Broncos capped off the scoring with a milestone goal.
Sam Ward skated down the left-wing boards before firing the puck on net from the faceoff circle, beating Hay over the glove for his first career goal. Connor Gabriel and Luke Mistelbacher assisted on the goal.
Attention then turned to Rocha who turned aside all eight shots sent his way in the third period, denying 24 in total, as he picked up his first career shutout in the win.
The Broncos now look to stretch their winning streak to four when they meet the Calgary Hitmen (24-26-5-3) at the Scotiabank Saddledome for a 3:00pm CST puck drop on Sunday. You can listen to the game live on the Eagle 94.1 FM with Living Sky Casino Broncos Hockey starting at 2:30pm.