Broncos Wheat Kings Lajoie 1024x683
Max Lajoie moves the puck (photo by Darwin Knelsen for scbroncos.com)

Jayce Hawryluk scored the game winner and added two assists in powering the undefeated Brandon Wheat Kings to a 5-2 win over the Broncos in Swift Current on Saturday night.

The 18-year-old deflected in a John Quenneville shot on the power play to put Brandon back ahead after the Broncos had tied the game up on a power play goal of their own. He then assisted on a shorthanded goal by Tim McGauley and the empty-netter from Quenneville to put what had been a close game out of reach.

"If we compare tonight to last night (against Edmonton) this was a much better effort from our group," said Broncos Associate Coach Josh Dixon. "We were happy with a lot of parts of our game. Obviously you're never happy when you lose... but for us early in this season we really looked for a character bounce back which we saw from most of our group."

Swift Current took a 1-0 lead after an even first period on a power play goal by Brett Lernout with returning defenceman Dillon Heatherington serving as a screen. The Broncos actually out-chanced the Wheat Kings in the second period as they fired 20 shots on the Brandon new, but it was the visitors who found the back of the net.

Tyler Coulter lifted the puck off the ice from behind the net and banked one in off Broncos goaltender Landon Bow early in the second period and Kord Pankewicz blasted his first career goal by Bow midway through the period to pull Brandon ahead.

Swift Current seemed to be building some momentum late in the third and early in the second period as they tied the score on Jay Merkley's goal only to have the Wheat Kings re-take their lead less than two minutes later. That and the shorthanded goal seemed to suck the wind out of the Broncos' sails.

"It was a game that could have gone either way," Dixon said. "You give up the one shorthanded goal and that's really going to affect the momentum."

"I thought we played pretty well," added Broncos defenceman Brett Lernout. "I just think the bounces didn't go our way... their first two goals went off a couple of our players... I think that was the game breaker."

Swift Current went 2 for 3 on the man advantage as they remain on top of the league power play rankings. The goals aren't coming as easily at even strength.

"5 on 5 we're just not managing the puck long enough in the offensive zone," Dixon noted. "The longer we're able to play with the the more we're forcing teams to wear them down and get tired... that's an area of our game we need to improve as we go out west."

Heatherington played big minutes in his return and seemed to help stabilize the blue line after some scrambly moments against Edmonton the night before.

"He did an excellent job tonight shutting down their top line," Dixon said. "Having (Heatherington) back there allows us to play other players in situations that better suit them... it really gives us depth and couldn't be happier to have him back."

Broncos goaltender Landon Bow stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced in a losing cause. Jordan Papirny turned aside 33 of the 35 Swift Current shots to earn the win.

Saturday's loss and a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday dropped the Broncos to 2-2 with a five game BC Division road swing starting Tuesday in Prince George. They then visit Kamloops on Wednesday, Vancouver on Friday, Victoria on Saturday and Kelowna the following Tuesday. You can hear all the games on The Eagle 94.1 FM starting with our pre-game show half an hour before puck drop.

Click here for audio from Saturday's game