Swift Current Broncos fever won't be cooling off in southwest Saskatchewan anytime soon after a home-and-home sweep of their rivals from Regina this weekend.

Stuart Skinner made 41 saves as the Broncos beat Regina 4-1 this evening in front of a strong contingent of Swift Current fans at the Brandt Centre. Swift Current had topped Regina 3-1 at home yesterday.



“It was a respectable weekend for us,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “I thought seconds and thirds were good for us. It started off a little slow kind of standing around watching. We got our legs in the second and from there started to play our game.”

Aleksi Heponiemi led the way with a goal and 2 assists for the Broncos moving up to 93 points in 39 games. Matteo Gennaro scored once and added an assist, Beck Malenstyn had a goal and Glenn Gawdin scored his team leading 40th goal of the season in the win.

“It feels pretty good,” Gawdin said. “First time in my career. I'm happy with it. It was a nice play by Heponiemi and Steenbergen so it was just a tap in... but it feels good.”



The Broncos got off to a bit of a slow start for the second straight game and were able to hold off the Pats despite a 17-9 Regina shot advantage in the first period. Malenstyn converted a Heponiemi pass during some four-on-four play late in the opening frame going hard to the net to give Swift Current a spark.

“Getting that goal late in the period was big for us,” Gawdin said. “We knew that we could play with them. They were coming. They were in their home barn... so we knew it was coming. We just weathered the storm, got that goal late and carried the momentum into the second and third.”

Swift Current started to carry the play as the second period went on and were able to extend their lead on a Past turnover that Gennaro ripped top shelf on Ryan Kubic for his 31st of the season.

The Broncos built on the lead with third period power play goals from both Heponiemi and Gawdin on really nice passing plays. Cale Fleury had pulled Regina within two goals midway through the third and they put some pressure on before Gawdin salted it away.

Heponiemi made a terrific rush to draw that late power play and was kneed down by Fleury in the process. He got up gingerly but did play on the ensuing man advantage.

Swift Current was missing Sahvan Khaira, Kole Gable and Kaden Elder who are all dealing with day-to-day injuries.

The story of the weekend for the Broncos was likely their defensive play allowing only two goals combined in the wins over a pretty deep Regina Pats club.

“Anytime you can play two games and only give up two goals I think you like your chances,” Smith noted. “They didn't give up much either. It was a playoff atmosphere. It was tight out there (and) there wasn't a lot of scoring opportunities. When you get a chance to score you need to do it. I thought our guys came through in the second and third for sure.”



That's something the Broncos have been focusing on all season and hoped they were able to sure up with the five big additions they made at the trade deadline.

“That's awesome it's what we've been preaching especially defensively,” Gawdin said. “It's not just in goal but it's our team working as one. It's been our main focus for pretty much the whole season is trying to shut down guys and limit opportunities because we know our chances will come. Knowing we can do that against a good team is huge for us going forward.”

Skinner does get his share of the credit though despite offering a lot of praise for the players in front of him after yesterday's win. The 19-year-old netminder was not only strong this weekend, but he's 6-2 in 8 games with the Broncos carrying a 2.00 goals against average and 0.932 save percentage in his new uniform.

“Our defence was outstanding this weekend,” Smith said. “Skinner was top notch. He needs to take some credit as well. He was excellent today as well especially in the early going. He was good, our D was really good and it gave our forwards a chance to find their game.”

Sweeping the Pats this weekend moves the Broncos to 4-0 against Regina this season. Given the possibility of a first round match-up between the two clubs, the Pats knocking the Broncos out of the playoffs last season and them being the Memorial Cup hosts these wins are especially meaningful.

“It's big,” Gawdin said. “We know we might see these guys in playoffs and hopefully Memorial Cup. Just knowing we can play with them and beat them is huge. We've obviously built that rivalry with them with those seven games last year. It felt the exact same especially with our crowd in Swift Current it was crazy. Hoping to keep that going.”

Swift Current with the win moved to within seven points of the Moose Jaw Warriors for top spot in the WHL. The Broncos are 35-12-3-1 on the season and host the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday.