Ryan Graham continued hot start with a new team scoring twice and adding an assist in a 5-1 Swift Current Broncos win over Calgary.

The 20-year-old forward now had 12 points in 5 games since joining the Broncos in a trade from Saskatoon.

“Ryan's really added something to our team,” said Broncos associate coach Ryan Smith. “He's really embraced being a part of the Broncos and it's nice to see.”

The win came on a night where the Broncos really took advantage of their scoring chances. They struck 5 times with only 15 shots in the first two periods.

“A pretty good effort all around,” Smith said. “We took advantage of our scoring opportunities, killed some penalties at key times and it was a good game for us.”

The biggest key to scoring for Swift Current on the night was generating offence off turnovers.

“We wanted to establish a forecheck,” Smith noted. “When we got on top of their D and forced them and took away their time they coughed the puck up. Once we break it down and get it up to the top of the slot we have guys who can score... really buried out chances tonight. The first guys were doing a great job getting in and taking away time and space.”

Calgary was able to garner some significant offensive zone time in the early portions of the first and second period. The Broncos felt they kept the Hitmen away from their net and limited their dangerous scoring chances.

“I thought we defended well,” Smith said. “We kept them to the outside. There wasn't lot of second shots, rebounds were controlled by (goaltender Travis Child) and our D did a good job boxing out. We didn't have a ton of shots, they had a few more but quality I don't know about that. One goal against on a power play we'll take that any night of the week.”

It was a solid night for Child kicking aside 27 Calgary shots and several at key times when the game was still close.

“He made the saves when we needed him,” Smith said. “I think the first ten minutes was maybe the most important part for him. He got us through that and he had a very strong game.”

Despite a limited number of high quality scoring chances overall the game did have a significant amount of physical play. From big hits to battles and a couple fights the Broncos held their own against a big Calgary squad.

“I think we handled it quite well,” Smith said. “I think the speed was there, we had some big hits on our own, we got hit... it's nice to see us handle that and not just handle it but dish it out as well. It was a very physical game tonight.”

Both rookie defencemen Matthew Stanley and Dom Schmiemann dropped the gloves with Schmiemann coming out with a very decisive victory over young forward Tristen Nielsen of the Hitmen.

Calgary actually took the early lead in the game on a Matteo Gennaro power play goal. Swift Current responded on a power play of their own when Artyom Minulin made a nice toe-drag move to the right face-off dot and ripped a shot off the post and in for his 6th of the season. It was also the Teddy Bear Toss goal as fans sent stuffed animals, mittens and toques to the ice for the Salvation Army.

Click the link below to see a video of the Teddy Bear Toss.

https://youtu.be/Kd2G_oCHE2U

Lane Pederson then earned his first of two assists on the night lobbing a long pass to Graham in Hitmen territory as the veteran forward used his speed to drive the net and create a rebound for Kaden Elder's 5th of the season.

The Broncos pulled away in the second period as Tyler Steenbergen created a neutral zone turnover and finished a pretty give-and-go with Pederson for his WHL leading 21st goal.

Graham then added his two goals both generated off Calgary turnovers. He's up to 8 on the season and 7 in his 5 games with Swift Current.

Swift Current went 1 for 4 on the power play although 3 of those came in the third period as they played out the string and kept their top players on the bench. Calgary went 1 for 3.

The win also saw Aleksi Heponiemi's point streak snapped at 13 games.

Next up for the 15-8-2-4 Broncos is a match-up with the East Division leading Regina Pats on Sunday afternoon. It's the first meeting of the season for Swift Current against the much hyped Pats.

“I think everybody has had that one circled on the calendar for a while,” Smith said. “They're very deep up front with lots of skill and lots of speed. There's a reason why they're in first place. They play a good team game and a good system. I think it's a measuring stick... I think you'll see an intense Sunday afternoon game. Anytime we've went up against a strong team we've always played quite well and I'd expect the same on Sunday.”

Swift Current is still missing Glenn Gawdin, Riley Stotts and Tyler Adams due to injury.

You can hear Sunday's game on The Eagle 94.1 FM with Robertson Family Group Broncos Hockey at 3:30pm. The family friendly game time is just after 4pm at the Credit Union iPlex.