Image

Dave "Tiger" Williams and Taylor Vause (photo by Darwin Knelsen)

 

It felt like the 70s on and off the ice on Saturday night at the Credit Union iPlex. Swift Current Broncos legend Dave "Tiger" Williams led the home team from the dressing room in their retro jerseys. The Broncos then seemed to have Tiger's heart, grit and toughness in a 3-2 victory over the previously streaking Moose Jaw Warriors. Swift Current's victory snapped Moose Jaw's seven game winning streak.

It was a bounce back effort after a 4-1 loss in Brandon that Coach/GM Mark Lamb called "one of our worst played games of the year as a whole."

"Yestersday we were losing battles," said Bronocs forward Shea Howorko. "All it was today was we had to win our battles. Sure enough our team came out and battled hard. We had our second and third effort. We didn't want to lose."

Swift Current opened the scoring only 28 seconds into the first period when Graham Black tipped in a Dillon Heatherington point shot for his fifth of the season. The Broncos were denied a bigger lead in the first as rookie goaltender Spencer Tremblay made several big stops including one on a Brad Hoban point blank slap shot. Swift Current had a 12-7 edge in shots through 20 minutes of play.

They extended the lead with Trevor Cameron's third of the season on the man advantage early in the second period. Cameron redirected an Erik Fleming pass over Tremblay for the lone Broncos power play goal of the game. They went 1 for 6 with an extra man. Howorko gave Swift Current a 3-0 lead when he tipped home a Tanner Muth point shot for his second goal in as many games.

"This morning (Assistant Coach) Darren Evjen and I were on the ice... and he said 'Howorko let's tip some pucks' and he shot 20 pucks" Howorko said. "He said 'I got a feeling you're going to tip one in tonight' and sure enough I tipped 'er in."

"Shea's been doing a lot of extra work after practice," said Assistant Coach Andy Schneider. "He's responding quite well and he's had a good last couple of games,"

The Warriors didn't go away easily. Florida Panthers draft pick Quinton Howden scored midway through the second on the power play and midway through the third on a terrific snap shot to cut Swift Current's lead to one. Howden has scored seven times in eight games since returning from injury. Moose Jaw spent most of the third period in the Broncos zone and hit a couple of posts, but they were unable to force overtime. Jon Groenheyde made 12 third period saves and 28 overall to secure the victory.

"He was great especially in the third period," Schneider said. "He made a couple of really good saves and gave us a chance to win. We came through for him."

Schneider was impressed by their team effort.

"We came from the beginning of the game we wanted to win battles," Schneider said. "(Daniel) Dale got us going early and we just kept going from there. We were winning puck battles all over the ice. Moose Jaw is a heck of a team and we showed we could play with them."

Forward Adam Smith made his debut in a Broncos jersey. His ice time was limited by the game misconduct linemate Daniel Dale received for apparently tackling Warriors forward Brett Lyon to the ice during their first period scrap. It was the first indication the game would be a physical affair. The two clubs exchanged some big hits and closed the game with a surprising fight between defencemen Reece Scarlett and Dillon McIlrath. Scarlett was responding to a hit on Adam Lowry and took a couple of hard shots from the much bigger McIlrath in the process. All five players on the ice ended up paired up and it could set the tone for a re-match next Friday.

Tanner Muth was back in the lineup for the Broncos after missing Friday's game in Brandon ill. Defenceman Graeme Craig sat in Muth's place and had his streak of 111 consecutive games snapped.

The 1970s style jerseys were a one time item and the Broncos auctioned them off during the game.

Click here for an interview with Assistant Coach Andy Schneider and F Adam Smith

Click here for an interview with Broncos F Shea Howorko

Click here for the official summary from the WHL website

Highlights of Broncos Hockey on The Eagle 94.1 FM