Broncos @ Blazers

[Big Ern]

The Broncos are back on track. With two great goals by Dale Weise, and a lockdown performance by the defense, Swift Current picked up a beauty of a win...2-1.

Defensively, this almost has to be Dean Chynoweth's dream game. The Broncos played a lock-down defense throughout to earn the win. Blocked shooting lanes, plugged up ice space, and great defensive positioning are part of what made tonight's game a great success. Veterans like Derek Claffey and Eric Doyle had awesome defensive games. Every guy on defense played the role they have to play tonight. That includes R.J. playing like he's a freight train. He also had a great fight...give him the edge over Golin for sure. Travis Yonkman remains consistent, making the saves he has to make, to preserve the lead. A few young guys got some important ice time, and looked really comfortable out there..Joel Rogers grabbed my eye. Once again, great defensive performance.

Offensively of course, the team was led by Dale Weise. Weise took advantage of a break-away early. He also had the winning goal, a PP goal in the second period. That one was a beauty too...nice backhander! Weise played a feisty game as well, and had his best game this year so far IMO. Other forwards helped too.....Smith continues to be a great leader. Even with the smallest chance on goal, he lets the puck go just in case. Levi Nelson pretty much stayed out of the box, and created some great scoring chances. Blazers' goalie Justin Leclerc silently had a great game, or we would have won by a much greater score. Geordie Wudrick had a goal-less game for the first time in a while, but dropped the mitts to contribute to the win. It's never an interesting game without a tilt...give him a hand. All the forwards were responsible defensively. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the young guys were given ice time in pressure situations. Brad Hoban played like a veteran, and Codey Eakin continues to amaze me. Eric Felde is a great addition. He's experienced, and plays well in every situation. Keegan Dansereau silently had a great game as well. It's nice to see a game won by a few more goals, but also nice to see few, if any mistakes made, in a tight 2-1 win. After all, the win is what we want.

Awesome game....we're tops in the East.

LET'S GO SWIFTY!!!

NOTE: I'm lovin' it tonight! My Dallas Stars made the situation better, by beating up on Boston 4-1. Joel Siemens, are you reading this?? LOL

[bronco rep]

Big win boys!!!! Lets put 2 more wins together before you head home to a packed iPLEX. Wow 6-2 record coming home would be what Big Ern ordered to start the season. :clap: :clap:

[Flathead]

I didn't get a chance to listen or watch the game, but I see there were a few scraps, anyone got a recap on the fights? feel freee to post them in the fight forum if you want.

[Scout]

with Gregg Drinnan

Saturday, October 6, 2007
Blazers box
THE SCORE
Swift Current 2, Kamloops 1

WHAT HAPPENED
The Broncos were the better team as the Blazers didn’t display nearly enough
enthusiasm, energy, drive and discipline.

THE SHOTS
The Broncos had three of the game’s first four shots and the Blazers had the
next 10. After that, the Broncos held a 17-12 edge, including 8-4 in the
third period.

THE EXCHANGE
Kamloops C Mark Hall and Swift Current LW Geordie Wudrick were ejected five
seconds into the third period. That is a great tradeoff for Kamloops but on
this night it didn’t matter.

THE DISCIPLINE
Kamloops D Ryan Bender, the captain, received his second misconduct in as
many games, this one for getting involved at the Broncos’ bench during a
stoppage in play. . . . Kamloops RW Kenton Dulle picked up a misconduct for
deliberately shooting the puck away from linesman Nick Swaine.

THE WRIST
Kamloops D Mark Schneider, out with a dislocated wrist since before training
camp, saw a doctor on Friday and has been cleared for hitting at practice.
He is on target to play next weekend when the Blazers make a U.S. Division
swing.

THE ALL-TIME LIST
Kamloops C Brock Nixon, who was held pointless, has 149 points. He needs two
more to catch Kamloops assistant coach Steve Gainey, who is 37th on the
club’s all-time list, with 151 points.

THE SON
Swift Current C Cody Eakin was the sixth pick in the 2006 bantam draft. His
dad, Grant (Butch) Eakin, split 268 WHL regular-season games — he had 254
points — between the Winnipeg Clubs and Lethbridge Broncos (1973-78).

THE TRADE
RW Keegan Dansereau, acquired by the Broncos from Calgary on Sept. 29,
wasn’t in game shape when he arrived, perhaps because he wasn’t allowed to
take his skates with him when Hitmen GM Kelly Kisio sent him home to
Saskatoon for disciplinary reasons. Dansereau tweaked a hamstring shortly
after joining the Broncos and is trying to play through it.

THE ROAD TRIP
With their home arena undergoing renovations, the Broncos are on a
season-opening eight-game road trip. They are scheduled to play their first
home game Oct. 12 against the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings.

THE DAILY NEWS THREE STARS

1. RW Dale Weise, Swift Current. Two goals and a big shot block.

2. LW Erik Felde, Swift Current. Used his speed all game.

3. G Travis Yonkman, Swift Current. Never pressured but stood his ground.

UP NEXT
The Blazers play the Bruins in Chilliwack tonight before returning home to
face the Calgary Hitmen on Monday at 7 p.m.

[Scout]

with Gregg Drinnan

Saturday, October 6, 2007
Broncos 2, Blazers 1
From The Daily News of Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007 . . .

If Sasha Golin is going to serve as the Kamloops Blazers’ alarm clock every
game, his knuckles are going to be awfully sore by season’s end.
Trailing the Swift Current Broncos 2-1 as the third period started Friday
night at Interior Savings Centre, the Golin alarm went off for the second
time in three WHL games.
Where it worked two games ago — a Golin fight with the since-released Brad
Bakken provided the Blazers with the spark necessary to overcome a 2-0
deficit and go on to a 3-2 overtime victory over the visiting Seattle
Thunderbirds — a book of matches and some kerosene wouldn’t have lit a fire
under the home boys on this night.
But, yes, Golin tried.
As the 19-year-old right winger said later: “It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll
do whatever it takes to get the boys going.”
As the teams lined up for the faceoff to start the third period, it was
evident that Golin was trying to light the match. He ended up scrapping with
Broncos defenceman R.J. Larochelle, while Kamloops centre Mark Hall went
with left-winger Geordie Wudrick.
On this night, however, the Blazers didn’t react the way they had against
Seattle and the result was their second loss in four home games.
The Broncos had lost 7-2 to the Hitmen in Calgary on Wednesday but were able
to put that behind them as they won for the fourth time in six games.
“That was a real disappointing effort for us,” offered Broncos right-winger
Dale Weise, who scored both his club’s goal last night. “It was a real poor
performance for 60 minutes. We knew Kamloops was a good team. We just wanted
to come out and take it to them in the first period and then play a complete
game. I think we did that.”
Well . . . it didn’t quite work out like that in a first period from which
the Broncos were able to escape with a 1-1 draw.
The Broncos came out with some jump, outshot the Blazers 3-1 and took a 1-0
lead when the 19-year-old Weise, an 18-goal man last season, went in alone
to beat goaltender Justin Leclerc, who was sharp in stopping 18 shots.
By period’s end the Blazers held an 11-3 edge in shots and had the
equalizer, courtesy right-winger Kenton Dulle, who drove to the net and
shovelled a centring pass from defenceman Jordan Rowley past goaltender
Travis Yonkman, who would make 22 saves.
Weise’s second goal — on the power play, he took advantage of a fortuitous
bounce off the end boards to beat Leclerc at 14:01 of the second period —
stood up as the winner.
The Blazers didn’t do much of anything after that, other than to allow
themselves to get distracted by some erratic officiating, and, in fact, they
mustered only four shots on Yonkman in the third period, the last one a
harmless 150-footer at the buzzer.
With one minute left, the Blazers got Leclerc out for the extra attacker and
had the play in the Broncos’ zone, but Weise blocked a Brock Nixon point
shot and that was that.
“I was standing there and I knew he was going to one-time it,” said Weise,
an icepack on his bruised right knee. “I just went, ‘Oh . . .’ ”
Weise admitted, however, that it would have hurt a lot more had the Broncos
lost. The Blazers, meanwhile, have only their wounded pride.
“We’re just, I guess, too confident,” Golin said. “We know we have a good
team. But we have to work hard because on any given night the team that
works the hardest wins.
“We have to put together a full 60 minutes. Right now there are flashes of
it. We get confident and get going and then we . . . we’ve got to be more
disciplined. We get going and there’s a bad call or an undisicplined penalty
and it’s right back to the start.”
The Blazers were done in, too, by a power play that was 0-for-8 and now is
at 13.8 per cent.
“We had a couple of good power plays but we’re not doing a very determined
job of protecting the puck at times and we’re passing it to guys who don’t
have any support,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach,
said. “We didn’t get our game going and now guys are getting frustrated . .
. we took 10-minute misconducts.
“I think the refereeing . . . we weren’t sure what was going to be called
and that threw us off our game. We have to understand that we can’t control
what the refs do; we have to go out there and play.”
They get another chance tonight when they meet the first-place Bruins in
Chilliwack. The Bruins, who ruined the Blazers home-opener with a 2-1
victory on Sept. 21, beat the host Vancouver Giants 5-4 in overtime last
night.
That victory lifted the Bruins (5-1-0-0) into a tie atop the B.C. Division with the Giants (4-0-1-1). Yes, the expansion Bruins of 2006-07 are the first-place Bruins of 2007-08.
They will be a formidable challenge for the Blazers. But then, when you are
playing the way the Blazers are, any team poses a challenge.
JUST NOTES: Referees Sean Raphael and Colby Smith somehow managed to hand
out 164 penalty minutes, with 86 of those going to the Blazers. They dished
out 13 minor penalties through the first two periods of a game that, to that
point, wasn’t the least bit physical. . . . Amazingly, though, each team
finished with eight power-play opportunities. . . . Attendance was announced
as 4,538.

[Scout]

Switzer's Blog
Friday, October 05, 2007

Broncos in Kamloops

Caught a bit of the game on the WHL webcast...some thoughts.

-Powerplay was 1/8. They looked better than those numbers. Erik Felde and Eric Doyle work well together.

-RJ Larochelle got the left going against Sasha Golin. RJ gets the unanimous win.

-How about Deano? Last three minutes of a 2-1 lead on the road and who is on the ice? Hoban, Eakin, Rogers and Dowling! Rookies! On the same shift! We're playing for now and still developing the future. BD11?

-I know I give Jon Keen lots of props on this blog. He earns it. Listening to the Kamloops play by play guy without a color guy is tough. Keener can carry a game on his own. Few can. I guess I just made a point that I'm not necessary.

-Homerism? Kamloops play by play guy at the buzzer: "The Broncos win on the strength of a Dale Weise powerplay goal on a phantom penalty to Alex Rogers". Nice call. Kamloops did only score one goal, don't blame the stripes.

-Justin Dowling being sent head first into the boards on Kamloops radio is "Shattock caught Dowling with his head down!". Jon is certainly one of the more unbiased guys in the league.

-Some Calgary Hitmen fans are warning us that Keegan Dansereau is a defensive liability. He was on this ice in the last minute. We held on to our lead. Just so you know.

-The worst the Broncos can be after the eight road games to start the year is .500.

-Broncos win...Levi Nelson had 2 penalty minutes. We'll call it a 'phantom call'. Smart Levi=win

-2 goals for Dale Weise. Mike Wilson had another assist. 6 game point streak. Have we had one of those in the last few years?

[Scout]

Keen's Korner

Saturday, October 06, 2007
All Around Good Night in the 'Loops
Sorry for the late recap... a ride up the wildlife laden Cache Creek highway to Prince George had us arriving just after 4am....

The Broncos left Kamloops with more than just the two points, bus drive Dan Adrienne also claimed the 50/50 jackpot for over $1600 dollars. Nice.

That was the kicker to the night where the Broncos played a fairly solid game for the 2-1 win. They went into shutdown mode for the final period protecting the one goal lead while outshooting and outchancing the Blazers.

Some rough stuff to kick off the third period. The Blazers really wanted a piece of Geordie Wudrick after he took a whack at Victor Bartley when he laid on the ice in the 2nd period period. Sasha Golin was talking to him off the face-off when R.J Larochelle stepped up and delivered some solid lefts in a long scrap. Geordie eventually got jumped by Mark Hall during the same stoppage. Both were kicked out of the game. Bad trade for the Broncos there.

Spencer McAvoy also stood up for rookie teammate Justin Dowling after he was hit awkwardly into the glass at the penalty box by Tyler Shattock. Spence didn't fare so well but responded well to the dangerous check.

Cody Eakin probably didn't sleep much last night. His breakaway chance in the third resulted in him shooting the puck well over the net. Eakin was disappointed after the game. With his speed and sense he'll get more chances.

It was great to have Kamloops Daily News Sports Editor Gregg Drinnan on the broadcast last night. The fellow blogger at www.gdrinnan.blogspot.com has been covering WHL hockey for 30 plus years. He joined us for a 1st intermission chat.

The guys were treated to a nice Thanksgiving-like post-game meal afterwards. Some turkey, potatoes, gravy, salad.... it was fantastic and a nice touch from Broncos Assistant Coach Tim Kehler who looks after planning the meals on the road.

-------------------------

Not sure what to expect tonight in Prince George. The team hopefully can get some downtime and some rest before face-off. It's a tough stretch playing in Kamloops and then P.G. in back to back nights. The Cougars didn't play last night and have been waiting for the Broncos since Wednesday's win over Tri-Cities. It was the Cougars first win of the season.

We're on the air at 7:30 with the Big Show, 8pm play-by-play. Former Broncos goaltender Kyle Moir will be my guest in the pre-game show. He's out in Thunder Bay at Lakehead University.

The Broncos are out to a solid 4-2 start with two more games to go in this string of eight straight to begin the season. Dean Chynoweth's target was 4-4. Hopefully he can re-work those numbers to a more attractive 5-3 or 6-2.

Time to go check out some P.G. scenery.....