Bow Impressing in Broncos Goal

One of the early pleasant surprises for the Swift Current Broncos has been sophomore goaltender Landon Bow.

The 18-year-old has has put up six quality starts in a row dating back to the pre-season and won both ends of a home-and-home against Regina to start the regular season.

Bow got the chance to carry the ball in recent weeks as veteran Eetu Laurikainen returned home briefly to complete some educational requirements. He will be back with the team this weekend.

After an inconsistent rookie season, Bow described some of the differences in his game so far this fall.

Home Hardware's Overtime September 23rd"This year I'm just a lot more calm in my net," he said. "I'm not rushing, I'm always looking around... I'm more aware of my surroundings and I'm quicker so I can get to those a lot faster. My body control is way better than it was last year."

Part of that improvement is simply age and experience.

"Last year was more my feel year and this year I've come back with a purpose," Bow said. "It's a lot easier once you've been here and you can understand the speed so you know more of what you're gonna face than I was last year,"

The 6'4, 225lbs goaltender spent a lot of time this summer working to improve his quickness.

"A big part of it in my workouts was working a lot with my foot speed," Bow said. "A lot of jumping and that really helped me with my quickness on the ice."

Bow had a 0.931 save percentage in the pre-season and stopped 43 of the 47 shots he has faced in two regular season games so far. Despite his early success he is still likely slated to play the backup role to Laurikainen, one of the league's best goaltenders last season.

"Keep my hopes up," Bow said. "Just go in and battle and show them that I can play games. I can play solid so that Eetu doesn't have to play (as many) games as he did last year."

The Broncos host Moose Jaw on Friday. They're in Medicine Hat on Saturday. You can hear both games on The Eagle 94.1 FM.