Glenn Gawdin and Aleksi Heponiemi both hit significant milestones as the Swift Current Broncos rolled to a 6-2 win over Medicine Hat.

Gawdin scored his 50th goal of the season for the first time in his five-year WHL career, while Heponiemi hit the 100-point mark while putting up four assists in the win.

“Obviously it's a great thing,” Heponiemi said. “I'm more enjoying that we're winning right now. We've got lots of guys who really can score goals on this team. It's helping me a lot and a great thing, but I'm really enjoying that we're winning right now.”



Gawdin's goal came late in the first period on a power play as he one-timed the puck by Michael Bullion to hit the 50-goal mark in only 58 games.

“A little relief,” Gawdin said. “I know I was kind of getting close on it. It was just a great play, our power play was clicking tonight. I was just trying to get it to the net.”



Gawdin now sits at 109 points to lead the WHL points race by seven on Moose Jaw forward Brayden Burke. Heponiemi is only a point back of Burke with 101 in only 44 games so far this season.

“Nice to see it as (Gawdin) is finishing up his career to really take that step,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “With (Heponiemi) he's a playmaker and gets four assists tonight. That's what we expect of them to produce, but we also expect a 200 foot game. If you watch the rest of the game after Glenn score he was unbelievable. He was first to pucks, he was good in the face-off circle, he killed some penalties... (Heponiemi) is a guy if you give him an inch he will take it and make plays.”

Swift Current came out strong and controlled the pace of play against a banged up Tigers team. They missed a lot of nets in the first ten minutes before starting to find the target on Tyler Steenbergen's 41st goal of the season. Steenbergen now has goals in four straight games.

“Tyler's got his jump back,” said Broncos Coach/Director of Player Personnel Manny Viveiros before the game. “That's what separates Tyler from other players in this league. He's quick, really quick in tight areas. He can separate himself from players in short distances. He's fine, we knew he would come back to his normal self.”



Giorgio Estephan then one-timed a puck in for his 26th of the season and fired a shot on net deflected him by Beck Malenstyn to put Swift Current up 3-0 on the power play. That's when Gawdin struck for another power play goal as the Broncos went 2 for 2 on the night.

“I think we had a lot of good net front presence,” Gawdin said. “Beck (Malenstyn) scored a goal right in the paint and Patterson on my goal. You can't stop it if you can't see it.”

Swift Current extended their lead in the second period with goals from Matteo Gennaro on a really nice play from Steenbergen and Heponiemi, and another Malenstyn deflection for his 10th of the season.

The Tigers fired 18 shots on net in the third period as they broke Stuart Skinner's shutout with goals from Ryan Jevne and Henry Rybinski. Skinner stilled made 37 saves as the Broncos won their sixth straight game.

In addition to Heponiemi's four point night, Estephan had three points, while Malenstyn, Gawdin, Steenbergen and Minulin chipped in two points. Heponiemi now has had two or more points in 30 of his 44 games this season.

Medicine Hat entered the game very shorthanded dealing with injuries to seven regulars from their lineup and then losing defenceman Dylan MacPherson early on tonight's game. They are a much better team on home ice and the Broncos expect a strong push in the re-match in Medicine Hat on Saturday.

“We want to play fast hockey,” Smith said. “I thought we did tonight most of the game... I expect to see a different Medicine Hat team, I expect to see the team we saw in the third. Tomorrow's a new game.”

Swift Current's victory combined with Regina's win over Moose Jaw brings the Broncos to within a point of the Warriors for top spot in the East Division and WHL as a whole. Moose Jaw still has three games in hand.

The Broncos were missing both Jacson Alexander and Tanner Nagel from their lineup with injuries. Nagel was listed on the WHL Weekly Report as being 1-2 weeks away with an upper-body injury, while Alexander is likely day-to-day.

You can listen to Saturday's game in Medicine Hat with Robertson Family Group Swift Current Broncos Hockey on The Eagle 94.1 FM at 8:00pm.