Broncos Start Mini-Series with Victory Over Brandon

Written by Shawn Mullin on Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Broncos Wheat Kings Bews 570x380 Levi Bews scores (Photo by Darwin Knelsen)

Levi Bews scored twice as the Swift Current Broncos won the first of three games this week with the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3 on Tuesday night.

“Just being in the right areas,” Bews said. “The first one was a beautiful pass from Lowry and the second one was just driving the net hard and pucks go in for you.”

The Broncos scored three times in the second period to break the game open and hung on to break their three game losing skid. Reece Scarlett, Josh Derko and Ryon Moser also scored for Swift Current. Graham Black had 3 assists for the Broncos, while Adam Lowry and Richard Nedomlel each had 2 helpers.

Full Coaches Show “We tried to harp on the guys all week to drive the net,” said Broncos Assistant Coach Jamie Heward. “One of the things that happened in practice was (Chance Lund) was driving the net so hard he wiped out and took the goalie, the net and everything out... and that's what we want. We don't want a guy to hurt himself but we want a guy to go to the net hard every single time. Tonight we got rewarded for that. Our guys are in front of the net when it counted.”

Things got off to a slow start for both teams in the first 10 minutes before Bews opened the scoring on the power play. It's only took 30 seconds for the Wheat Kings to respond as Richard Nejezchleb converts an Alessio Bertaggia feed and the game was tied after the first period.

Swift Current broke the game open in the second period as Scarlett gave them their lead back by cutting from the wall to the slot and beating Corbin Boes with a backhand. They kept up the pressure and Bews knocked in the rebound from a Black rush to extend their lead. Derko closed the scoring in the period by knocking in another rebound, this time from a Brycen Martin point shot.

“I think even though we didn't have our legs in the first we still did some decent things,” Heward said. “You could just kind of feel a sense that the guys were going to break out.”

Full Highlights Moser deflected in a Nedomlel point shot for a power play goal as Swift Current took a 5-1 lead in the third period. Nejezchleb struck back with a power play goal of his own and Bertaggia made things close with a quick goal shot from the wall that eluded Eetu Laurikainen in the Swift Current goal. That's as close as the Wheat Kings would get.

Laurikainen stopped 21 shots including a highlight reel save on Nejezchleb to earn the win for the Broncos. Boes stopped 33 of the 38 Swift Current shots in a losing cause. The Broncos went 2 for 2 on the man advantage, while Brandon went 1 for 4.

The two clubs meet again on Wednesday night in Brandon. The Wheat Kings will make a quick return on Saturday for another game between Eastern Division rivals. You can hear all the action on The Eagle 94.1 FM with The New Pioneer Co-op Home Centre Broncos Hockey.