The Red Deer Rebels have served notice this weekend they have one of the best new lines in the WHL.

Brandon Hagel, Cameron Hausinger and Brett Davis scored 7 of Red Deer's 9 goals in their first two games together since David and Hausinger joined the Rebels in a deal with Kootenay.

They were the difference on Saturday night as the Rebels survived a strong first half from Swift Current to beat the Broncos 6-2.

"I thought our overall game was a lot better than last night (in Calgary)," said Broncos assistant coach Brandin Cote. "They got a couple opportunistic goals. Our gap wasn't very good on those ones. Other than that our first period was really good and we probably didn't deserve to be down 2-1... but it's tough. They have some older guys that have been through what we're going through and you could tell those guys really rise to the top at the end of the game there and took advantage of our miscues."



The Broncos are now 1-15-0-0 on the road and have lost 11 straight away from the Innovation Credit Union iPlex. That contrasts to a 4-8-1-1 record on home ice. Their goal differential is -18 at home versus -47 in their 15 road games.

"We've got to find ways to win on the road," Cote said. "We've done a good job at home with our consistency, but on the road it just for whatever reason hasn't been as good."

Swift Current played a strong first period in Red Deer and still wound up down 2-1. The Rebel struck twice in 53 seconds midway through the frame as they used their speed to push the Broncos back and had some wide open looks to beat Joel Hofer.

"Our gap wasn't as good tonight as it has been for our D," Cote noted. "Our forwards were kind of getting flat footed once and a while... those are some things we can get back to the drawing board the next couple days and sure up before we play Regina. Our neutral zone play has to be good. We have to be able to take away team's speed and when we get the puck we have to transition quick."



Despite that the Broncos outshot the Rebels 12-7 in the first period and spent a lot of time in the Red Deer zone through forty minutes.

"We weren't spending as much time in our own end which helped us generate more opportunities," Cote said. "A little more movement from our forwards. We protected the puck better. We had good support behind the net so we tried to use the back of the net and go low to high... a couple times we did find the guy up top high in the middle and that created a little bit of problem for them. Then just committing to putting pucks at the net and not waiting for the perfect play. I think we did a better job with that and were really encouraged by that."

Swift Current closed the gap late in the first period on an Alec Zawatsky power play goal. He took a feed from Ben King and out-waited Rebels goaltender Ethan Anders before wristing in his team leading 9th of the season. It was the first power play of the weekend for the Broncos who were finally able to implement some of the things they've been working on.

"I've been really hammering home the idea of thinking a pass ahead," Cote said. "Teams are pressuring us so you have to know here you're going before you get the puck. We did a good job of that and we found a seem. We've been shooting for opportunity a little bit better meaning that we're not trying to make the perfect shot... the other message too and it has been over the last little bit is to get on the power play a little more... through moving our feet and getting pucks behind their defence drawing some penalties and those are the ones that we did."

The Broncos started the second period with a similar effort to their first period performance. That was somewhat derailed when the Rebels got another goal off the rush and later extended their lead to 4-1 on the power play.

Red Deer completely took over the game in the third adding two more goals and mostly shutting a somewhat deflated Broncos group down. After two strong periods overall resulting in a 4-1 deficit, it didn't seem like Swift Current had much energy left in the third.

Matthew Culling did break through with a goal midway through the third snapping a shot by Anders low on the glove hand side. It was his second of the season and first since their previous visit to Red Deer on September 29th. Both Culling and Ethan O'Rourke breaking long droughts this weekend could give both pivots some confidence heading towards the holiday break

"Culling is going to be a good young player for us over the next couple years," Cote said. "He's an important part of our young core. To get him some confidence and he's got a good release. He's got to use it a little more and maybe hide his release a little more in terms of shooting through traffic and getting the puck through."

Hofer stopped 34 of Red Deer's 40 shots in a losing cause, while Anders denied two of Swift Current's 23 shots.

The Broncos were still without veterans Andrewy Fyten (flu) and Matthew Stanley (upper body) who missed both games on the weekend. Young forward Eric Houk is still on the shelf until likely after Christmas.

Swift Current has three games left before they holiday break. They'll host Regina on Wednesday before holding a home-and-home against Prince Albert.