Broncos Pats DeBrusk
Jake DeBrusk (photo by Darwin Knelsen)

Carter Rigby, Colby Cave and Jake DeBrusk combined for 12 points as the Swift Current Broncos came back from the holiday break with a 5-3 win over their rivals from Regina.

Their line willed the Broncos into the lead with four unanswered goals.

The Broncos have now won four out of the five games between the two teams this season and pulled to within two points of the Pats for second place in the WHL's East Division.

Swift Current came out strong with an early 7-1 shots advantage and four terrific scoring chances that rookie goalie Tyler Brown turned away. That allowed Regina to respond as Adam Brooks converted a give-and-go with Morgan Klimchuk to give the Pats a 1-0 lead.

Connor Gay then made it 2-0 Regina when he snuck in uncovered to the top of the Swift Current slot and beat Landon Bow low blocker.

A late first period power play allowed the Broncos to respond as Rigby fed a puck across the top of the slot to DeBrusk and Cave deflected in the DeBrusk shot for his 16th of the season. That goal settled Swift Current down and they took over in the second period.

Cave scored another one after Brycen Martin broke up a 3 on 2 and Rigby fed a nice pass across the front of the Regina goal to his captain. The Broncos kept coming when Jay Merkley stole a puck in the Pats' zone and dropped it to a fresh Rigby for his 13th of the season. Swift Current capped a strong period when DeBrusk put home the rebound of Rigby's hard slap shot and notched his 18th goal of the season.

Regina came on strong in the third period with 20 shots and an early goal by Kyle Burroughs. Bow kicked out 19 pucks and stood his ground to earn the victory and Merkley finished the game with an empty net goal.

Swift Current went 1 for 2 on the power play and held Regina to 0 for 2. The game was Griffin Foulk's first in a Broncos uniform after a trade with Lethbridge.

The two teams meet again Sunday night in Regina. You can hear the game on The Eagle 94.1 FM starting with our pre-game show at 5:30pm and puck drop at 6pm.