Broncos Comeback to Tame Tigers

The line of Coda Gordon, Adam Lowry and Colby Cave combined for 12 points as the Swift Current Broncos came from down 4-1 to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-4 on Friday night. The Tigers didn't seem to have an answer for Swift Current's top line.

Full Highlights"Our cycle game was excellent again and it started from the back end." said Cave. "(Scarlett) and (Heatherington) really helped us out in the defensive zone and got the puck up to us for odd-man rushes. Lowry and Gordon are unbelievable players and it has been a real treat playing with these guys."

Their line factored in on every Broncos goal except Reece Scarlett's empty net insurance marker with 26 seconds left. The veteran defenceman was the only other Bronco to tally any points in Friday's game as he had a goal and an assist.

Those wins are very big for a team emotionally or character-wise,” said Broncos Assistant Coach Darren Evjen. “It shows the character, it shows you can do it and you can always build off that.”

The game didn't start well for the Broncos as they made some uncharacteristic defensive mistakes as Medicine Hat took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Hunter Shinkaruk and Miles Koules. Broncos goaltender Landon Bow also had to make a couple of big saves in tight off of Koules and Elgin Pearce to keep it close.

Full Coaches Show“We got caught standing around defensively,” Evjen said. “We got caught a couple of times with a third man not high... they create chances.  We just weren't aware of what was going on off the puck.”

The Broncos got the second period off to a better start as Cave got them on the board 36 seconds in and they continued to put significant physical pressure on the Tigers. Another coverage error at 7:53 of the period gave Jacob Doty an open shot to make it 3-1 Medicine Hat and the Tigers expanded their lead to 4-1 only 2 minutes later as Dylan Bredo converted a 2 on 1 rush.

Lowry cut the Medicine Hat lead to 4-2, extending his goal scoring streak at 17:40 of the second period as he converted on a great pass by Gordon for his 24^th of the season and 13^th over his last 8 games. Lowry also extended his point streak to 13 games with his 4 point effort on Friday.

“Every goal we got when we were clawing back was important,” Evjen noted. “But it gets you in the game going in the third you're just down by two. Three is a deep hole. Two is still a hole but just a little easier to dig yourself out of.”

The Broncos did just that with a couple of quick goals by Gordon 3:43 and 7:37 into the third period. The Calgary Flames draft pick ended up with a 5 point night bringing his total up to 13 points in 10 December games after only 6 points in November.

"It was definitely a confidence thing," said Gordon. "When I was in that slump it was kind of hard to get motivated but once the lucky goal happened I was able to gain confidence from that and just keep going."

Cave completed the comeback and gave Swift Current their first lead of the game after Gordon stole the puck in the corner and created a scramble around the front of the Medicine Hat goal.

“We won a couple of games before the Christmas break,” Cave said. “That felt good but we knew we had to come back after the break and start where we left off. Making this comeback and winning especially in front of the hometown crowd first game back it felt really good.”

It was one of the bigger crowds of the season 2585 fans witnessing the comeback.

Bow earned his third consecutive win as he made 22 saves for the Broncos. He was especially solid in shutting the door during the second half of the game. Cam Lanigan allowed 5 goals on 26 Swift Current shots.

Medicine Hat's top guns of Shinkaruk and Curtis Valk got off to a strong start but fell off later in the game as they both finished -5 while matched up with Swift Current's top line. The Tigers will have the last change as the two teams meet again Saturday night in Medicine Hat. We've got the game for you on The Eagle 94.1 FM with The New Pioneer Co-op Home Centre Broncos Hockey at 8pm.

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