The Swift Current Broncos fell to 0-4 with a 5-2 road loss to the Red Deer Rebels (now 2-2) Saturday night, but there were some takeaways for the rebuilding club.

As Broncos Assistant Coach Scott Dutertre put it afterwards, it’s about “building blocks.”

Swift Current had rookie Isaac Poulter in net for his WHL debut, and the 17 year old played well, turning aside all 15 shots in the first,  and keeping it a 2-0 game until four minutes into the third.

Moments of disarray in the defensive zone made things busy for Poulter, who made a number of saves on high-quality chances, and didn’t have much of a chance on four - if not, five - Red Deer goals.

“I thought at the start we came out with a little bit of jump there, and then we ended up losing our composure in the ‘D’ zone, we got a little bit scrambly, and that definitely hurt us. Some penalties that we took too; we need to stay out of the penalty box with a team like ours,” said Dutertre.

Brandon Hagel, Dawson Barteaux, Austin Schellenberg, Zak Smith, and Josh Tarzwell had Red Deer’s goals - in that order - as they led 5-0 midway through the third.

But Swift Current had some battle in them, despite being down by the same score they lost to the Edmonton Oil Kings by the previous night.

Rookie forward Matthew Culling scored for the Broncos when he grabbed a loose puck in the slot and beat Rebels goalie Byron Fancy (also making his WHL debut) glove side 12:23 into the third. That ended a drought of just over 10 periods since the first Broncos goal of the season, scored by Kaden Elder.

And a couple minutes later blueliner 

Connor Horning struck with a one timer on a five-on-three advantage, making it 5-2.

“I even mentioned that in the dressing room, we were talking about that postgame, [Head Coach/General Manager Dean Brockman] mentioned too, some building blocks are nice... all of a sudden there’s a couple hits and a couple goals and we started believing on the bench. I think that really exemplifies our character. At the end of the game we still made a strong push and we didn’t shut ‘er down. We saw that now and hopefully it carries over.”

The Regina Pats are in Swift Current Friday before the Broncos visit the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday.

Dutertre talked about Swift Current having a lot of character, and work ethic, but said it’s about honing in that work ethic.

“We work hard, not smart, sometimes. And that’s where it ends up hurting us sometimes. If we can learn to be a little more efficient.”

Fancy made 24 stops in his season debut, giving Rebels goalie Ethan Anders a rest before they’re in Calgary to play the Hitmen Sunday.

Barteaux had a couple assists along with his goal, Washington’s first rounder from this past summer’s NHL Entry Draft Alexander Alexeyev had two helpers and Hagel also had a two point game, with an assist on the Barteaux goal.

Culling’s goal was unassisted, while Alec Zawatsky and Max Patterson (who had a few shots in the first) had assists on Horning’s tally.

Swift Current is now off until they host Regina next Friday.