Broncos Hitmen Merkley
Jay Merkley (Photo by Darwin Knelsen)

Calgary scored twice in 1:01 midway through the third period to beat the Swift Current Broncos 3-1 on Friday night.

It was the third time the Hitmen have topped the Broncos this season.

"A lot of our younger guys that got more ice time I thought they did get good chances," said Broncos Associate Coach Darren Evjen. "Some of the guys that do carry ice time needed to be more direct and create opportunities."

Calgary has had Swift Current's number. They're the only team to beat the Broncos more than once this season, the only team to hold a regulation win at the Credit Union iPlex and they also snapped Swift Current's recent 9-game winning streak two weeks ago.

Jake Virtannen had a goal and an assist for the Hitmen. Brady Brasstart scored the winner on the power play to snap a 9 game goaless drought.

Glenn Gawdin scored the long Broncos goal late in the first period. Eetu Laurikainen made 40 saves in a losing cause for Swift Current.

It was  1-1 tie through 40 minutes of play before Calgary took over in the third.

"Where we get stubborn again turning pucks over," Evjen said. "That leads to bad places."

Swift Current got some good news with Dakota Odgers making his season debut after shoulder surgery kept him out of the lineup. Graham Black joined Coda Gordon and Justin Spagrud on the injured list. Black is day to day, while the other two are still weeks away.

The Broncos host Red Deer on Saturday night. It's the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

"They're a north/south team that plays hard," Evjen noted. "They're physical. We need more people to jump in for 60 minutes. When we do that we'll give ourselves an opportunity to win whomever is in the lineup."

New Broncos defenceman Stephen Shmoorkoff is expected to make his debut in the game.

There's a Borncos alumni scrimmage at 3pm. Our broadcast starts at 6:30pm on The Eagle 94.1 FM and the puck drop is 7:05pm.