Medicine Hat Vs. S.C.

[Big Ern]

It was a night that won't soon be forgotten at the Credit Union i-Plex, where tonight, Travis Yonkman and the Broncos shut out the Tigers 3-0.

IMO, the team had a decent showing.

Travis Yonkman was a bright spot in goal tonight. With an obvious lapse in the second period at one point, there was Travis Yonkman to stop the Tigers, including Yashar Farmanarra, who had all the time in the world to beat Yonks with a clear pass in front. No dice. Yonkman remained solid, stopping all 22 shots he faced to record the goose egg. 22 shots might not be much, but the Tigers had some amazing chances point blank, which Yonks promptly stopped, including most of the rebounds.

The defense moved the puck extremely well tonight, so well that at times they forgot about playing in tight. Mike Wilson had a great game, and so did Eric Doyle and Ryan Molle. LaRochelle was also played gritty throughout. The defense stepped it up with puck movement from the last weekend, especially the game in Brandon, and the result is a 3-0 victory. The guys need to keep on doing this, but rememeber to stay cautious about what happens in their own zone as well.

The entire forward group was terrific. Zack Smith continued to provide leadership with a goal and an assist, much to the delight of the bus-load of "Maple Creek gurus" in town tonight, I'm sure. Erik Felde contributed with a goal on the powerplay, and continues to showcase his tremendous speed. I thought the line of Nelson, Weise, and Wudrick looked explosive. Weise scored our third goal, and continues to be extremely strong on that puck. Keegan Dansereau showed flashes of brilliance, and helped out tonight with an assist on the winning goal.

Did anyone notice the Broncos' penalty kill? They are now sending that one guy to pressure on the boards, instead of standing back and waiting for a shot. The kill looked great tonight, didn't it?

2200 fans in attendance tonight at the i-Plex...the Tigers were in town on a Friday night, and the Broncos shut them out 3-0. Does it get any better than that on a Friday night? I doubt it. It was awesome!!!

Tomorrow's game in Saskatoon should be great. The Blades look kinda' weak on paper, but like Deano said, "You never know what to expect when you play them." I hope the Broncos come out with a great effort, which should make for a good result. Confidence is high, and I'm sure looking forward to it.

Anyway.....I'm hitting the hay. Long day tomorrow, with the trip to Saskatoon and all...

LET'S GO SWIFY!!!

[hobster]

I hope for a good game for your sake Big Ern.. Many teams fans will tell you that the Blades record isn't as bad as it looks at 6-12-1 they are 5-2 at home so they do play good there, and have the 4th best pp in the league and 10th best pk in the league.... So the way too beat this team is 5-on 5 forsure..... Im not sure if it's you that thinks we look bad on paper or if it was swifty's head coach that was refering too that, but we do have 2 really good top lines in my opinion with Hulak McCrae Toomey----Gillies Durand Fiala Other players too watch out for tomorrow would be rookie d-man Stefan Elliott and yougster Curtis Hamilton.. Anyways have a good one Big Ern i hope the Stoon faithfull treat you well ,oh bye the way try the fries haha.

[Scout]

Yonkman blanks Central leading Tigers
STEVEN MAH
The Southwest Booster

In a meeting between two of the top teams in the Western Hockey League the Swift Current Broncos got a 22-save shutout performance from Travis Yonkman in a 3-0 win over the Central Division leading Medicine Hat Tigers.

Yonkman, had a light 12 save effort over the opening two periods, but was tested 10 times in the final period, including having to kill off three Tigers powerplays. For Yonkman, who improves to 9-5-0-3, it was his first shutout of the season and third of his WHL career.

Swift Current got first period goals from Zack Smith and Erik Felde, his team leading 12th of the season.

Faceoff wins helped the Broncos generate both first period goals. Zack Smith opened the scoring 3:27 into the game when he picked up a loose puck and was untouched from the faceoff circle as he connected for his eighth of the season.

The Broncos extended their lead to 2-0 with 5:01 remaining in the opening frame using only seven seconds of a 30 second two man powerplay to register Felde’s team leading 12th of the season on a one-timer from the point.

The Broncos punctuated a fast-skating track meet of a second period when Geordie Wudrick fed a cross ice pass on a long three-on-two to Dale Weise who’s shot just found the goal line in behind Ryan Holfeld who allowed three goals on the first 19 shots he faced.

Holfeld turned aside 26 of 29 shots while dropping to 5-2-2-0 on the year.

Yonkman gave full credit to his teammates who limited the Tigers to only 12 shots through two periods and 22 overall.

“The guys did a good job and kept pucks to the outside for the most part, blocking shots was phenomenal, and on those second chances they were all over them. We were pretty good on the lines and I guess on our offensive opportunities we scored on them.”

Yonkman felt that his team executed the game plan this evening against one of the top teams in the WHL.

“Yeah we were on a two game slide there so we had to bring up our work ethic,” said Yonkman. “We came out hard knowing they were going to come out hard since we beat them 7-2 our last outing. We knew we just had to play our game tonight.”

As for his own performance in the shutout win, Yonkman continued to give credit to his teammates.

“The first two periods actually I did not have a lot of shots, that’s kind of the way this year has been going. Like I said, they are blocking a lot of shots for me so I am only going to get mid 20’s shots per game, so I really have to keep focused for the full 60- minutes.”

When asked at what point the thought of a shutout enters his mind Yonkman responded, “you always want to have that shutout but you have to block it out. You do that then you kind of get antsy and you kind of lose focus and that could be the key decision of not letting in that goal.”

For Medicine Hat it was their first shutout loss of the season and the first game they have gone without a goal since Dec. 29, 2006.

The Broncos are 2-0 this season against the Tigers including a 7-2 win over the host Tigers on Sept. 29th.

Swift Current remains second in the East Division at 12-5-0-3, while Medicine Hat has dropped their fourth straight contest but holds down top spot in the Central Division with a 12-9-0-1 record.

Saturday night the Broncos will visit Saskatoon for their second of three games in as many nights and their first of six meetings with the Blades this season.

Despite the Blades 6-12-1-0 record, Yonkman knows that his team will have to continue to play well if they want to keep pace with the Regina Pats for top spot in the East Division.

“They are in the bottom of the division, but from what I have heard they shouldn’t be there. They have a pretty good squad there and they can get some wins. If they come out hard we just have to match their work ethic and hopefully everything will be good.”

Sunday the Broncos will host the Prince Albert Raiders at 7 p.m. at the Credit Union iplex. The Raiders have defeated the Broncos in both of their meetings this season.

[d-man]

It was a night that won't soon be forgotten at the Credit Union i-Plex, where tonight, Travis Yonkman and the Broncos shut out the Tigers 3-0.

IMO, the team had a decent showing.

Travis Yonkman was a bright spot in goal tonight. With an obvious lapse in the second period at one point, there was Travis Yonkman to stop the Tigers, including Yashar Farmanarra, who had all the time in the world to beat Yonks with a clear pass in front. No dice. Yonkman remained solid, stopping all 22 shots he faced to record the goose egg. 22 shots might not be much, but the Tigers had some amazing chances point blank, which Yonks promptly stopped, including most of the rebounds.

The defense moved the puck extremely well tonight, so well that at times they forgot about playing in tight. Mike Wilson had a great game, and so did Eric Doyle and Ryan Molle. LaRochelle was also played gritty throughout. The defense stepped it up with puck movement from the last weekend, especially the game in Brandon, and the result is a 3-0 victory. The guys need to keep on doing this, but rememeber to stay cautious about what happens in their own zone as well.

The entire forward group was terrific. Zack Smith continued to provide leadership with a goal and an assist, much to the delight of the bus-load of "Maple Creek gurus" in town tonight, I'm sure. Erik Felde contributed with a goal on the powerplay, and continues to showcase his tremendous speed. I thought the line of Nelson, Weise, and Wudrick looked explosive. Weise scored our third goal, and continues to be extremely strong on that puck. Keegan Dansereau showed flashes of brilliance, and helped out tonight with an assist on the winning goal.

Did anyone notice the Broncos' penalty kill? They are now sending that one guy to pressure on the boards, instead of standing back and waiting for a shot. The kill looked great tonight, didn't it?

2200 fans in attendance tonight at the i-Plex...the Tigers were in town on a Friday night, and the Broncos shut them out 3-0. Does it get any better than that on a Friday night? I doubt it. It was awesome!!!

Tomorrow's game in Saskatoon should be great. The Blades look kinda' weak on paper, but like Deano said, "You never know what to expect when you play them." I hope the Broncos come out with a great effort, which should make for a good result. Confidence is high, and I'm sure looking forward to it.

Anyway.....I'm hitting the hay. Long day tomorrow, with the trip to Saskatoon and all...

LET'S GO SWIFY!!!

Great game by the boys Friday. PK was great and Yonks made some fantastic saves. Key to the win was they played a full 60 minutes tonight which you have to every game but the Tigers can bury you if you let up.
Props to the Tigers for playing a classy third period and not being "Pats-y" like one team in this league.
Anyone else notice Claffey's play the last two games. He's throwing the body and jumping into the rush at times, plus he was wearing an 'A' last night. He's always been solid on defense but good to see him bring other sides of his game.