broncos hitmen black
(Photo: Darwin Knelsen)

Controversy and heartbreak for the Swift Current Broncos last night.

Victor Rask scored 37 seconds into overtime to life the Calgary Hitmen to a 1-0 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday night. The victory gave Calgary a 3-1 lead in the first round best of seven series.

Controversy came as it appeared Brooks Macek was guilty of a glove pass on the winning goal.

“To see the look on 16, 17, 18 and 19 year old kids that just got cheated,” said Broncos Assistant Coach Jamie Heward. “That's really unfortunate. I feel really bad for them. To have a game decided by non players... not acceptable. What else can I say? Everybody in the rink saw it.”

Highlights from Tuesday's game from the New Pioneer Co-op Home Centre Broncos Hockey broadcast on the Eagle 94.1Glove passes before goals are not eligible for video review in the WHL regulations. The non-call sparked outrage from Bronco fans who littered the arena with boos and some littered the ice with trash.

Heward believes it could further galvanize the Broncos.

“They didn't beat us tonight,” Heward said. “In our minds we did not lose to the Calgary Hitmen. I told our guys we did not get beat by that team. I think we can hold our heads and say going into Calgary that we feel pretty good about ourselves.”

Neither team gave up much room to operate as the game remained scoreless throughout regulation. It was an intense and physical game from both clubs.

“I've seen games like this at the pro level,” Heward said. “When you're getting 17-19 year kids to buy in and do it at this level... is pretty impressive.”

The Broncos out-shot the Hitmen 28-27 in a game with not much to give between the opponents. Calgary had a slight edge in play and a 12-9 shot advantage after the first period, while the Broncos had a 13-8 advantage in the second period. Neither team got much to the net with only 6 shots a piece in a very tight third period.

Graham Black had the best chance for the Broncos on a give and go with Ryon Moser that Chris Driedger was barely able to deny.

Driedger made 28 saves to get the shutout for Calgary, while Eetu Laurikainen stopped all but the final controversial Calgary shot.

“To have the game end the way it did is definitely a deflating feeling,” said Broncos Captain Adam Lowry. “We know we played well. We didn't give them any opportunities... there's a lot of positives we can take into game 5 in Calgary. Our backs are kind of up against the wall down 3-1, but I think we've played well in the series. If we play another game as strong as we did tonight I think we are confident that we should get some success.”

After a combined 11 goals in game 1 the two clubs have really tightened up their defensive play.

“We noticed their speed coming through the neutral zone,” Heward said. We tried to not tweak too much of what we were doing from the regular season and it hurt us. We tried to move our guys back a little bit and just play a man on man. It's worked for the most part. You've got to try to eliminate their speed, you've got to try and be in their face all the time... I think our guys have done a fantastic job.”

Now Swift Current will have to regroup with their season on the line on Thursday night in Calgary.

The Broncos are organizing a fan bus to the game and details are available at scbroncos.com. We will have the game on The Eagle 94.1 FM with The New Pioneer Co-op Home Centre Bronocs Hockey at 6:30pm on Thursday.

Game 6 if necessary would be played Saturday in Swift Current.

Click here for the boxscore

Click here for video highlights