The Swift Current Broncos have now won three games in a row after a 6-4 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night at the InnovationPlex.
Six different goal scorers got on the board for the Broncos who were actually outshot 19-9 in period number one but held a 2-1 lead.
Seattle got on the board first with Eric Alarie’s first of two on the night. That was followed up through by Mat Ward finishing off a nice feed from Tyson Laventure to make it 1-1. Brady Birnie knocked home a rebound at the 14:11 mark of the first to give the Broncos their first lead of the night and the 2-1 lead after one.
Broncos Assistant Coach Taras McEwen said while their first few shifts weren’t what they wanted them to be, things got better as the period rolled on.
“I thought we responded really well in the first period,” McEwen said. “There was just an intensity early in the game and I thought we ramped up ours and took the battle to them which was good.”
In the second period, Saskatchewan product Kazden Mathies scored to tie the game for the Thunderbirds, but that’s as close as things would get the rest of the way as a stretch of 2:30 sprung the Broncos ahead as Ryan McCleary, Rylan Gould, and a Clarke Caswell poweplay goal propelled the Broncos to a 5-2 lead.
Alarie’s second of the night made it 5-3, and then Caleb Wyrostok took it to a 6-3 lead halfway through the third period. Wyrostok was pummeled into the boards by Jeremy Hanzel after scoring the goal, resulting in a five-minute powerplay for the Broncos, one they weren’t able to score on. However, Kazden Mathies did come as a shorthanded marker during that stretch to make it 6-4.
With six different goal scorers, McEwen said the depth is really coming together for his team.
“That’s one of the things we were excited with at the beginning of the year was the depth of our team,” McEwen said. “We think that all four lines can contribute offensively and that’s what we got tonight.”
The victory over Seattle was the first for the Broncos since 2014, a stretch of six games.
Swift Current will take a quick break from home ice as they head north to Prince Albert on Saturday to take on the Raiders. Tonight's game can be heard on the Eagle 94.1 FM with Redhead Equipment Case IH Broncos Hockey starting at 6:45pm.