Game Day Broncos/Blades

[Scout]

Keen's Korner

Sunday, November 18, 2007
Gameday! Broncos and Blades
The Swift Current Broncos have a chance to grab a share of the lead in the east division when they host the Saskatoon Blades tonight. Here some points to ponder before tonight's face-off.

- The Blades will play their third game in three nights after back-to-back home ice losses to Lethbridge and Calgary. How much is left in the tank?

- The Broncos have to start playing to win rather than a team playing like they are afraid to lose against teams lower in the standings. Too often already this season the Broncos have let points slip away.

- The Blades sport the league's worst road record at 1-10-1. Yes, even Portland has been better on the road this season.

- The Broncos will hope to have Keegan Dansereau back in the line-up after he was sick on Friday night. He was at the rink the past couple days and that's a good sign. If history tells us anything, the Broncos will wait till he's 100% before getting him back in the line-up. The Broncos never rush injuries or health in order to get a player back in. Also, don't expect Derek Claffey tonight. His shoulder injury should keep him out until sometimes next week.

- The Blades may still be without overage defenseman John Flatters who sat out last night's game vs Calgary due to suspension. His hit on Lethbridge's Nick Hotson on Friday night drew a boarding major and game miscounduct. The league has said his suspension is "To Be Determined" according to whl.ca.

[Scout]

"Game Notes" provides an inside look at the latest in team happenings, injuries, trades, hot streaks, the opposition and promotions. "Game Notes" changes with every home game! Find related items in Statistics.



Game 24 vs. Saskatoon
TONIGHT’S GAME: This will be the second meeting between the Swift Current Broncos and the Saskatoon Blades this season…The Saskatoon Blades won game one 4-3 in the shoot-out on November 10th at the Credit Union Centre.

Dale Weise scored a pair of goals for the Broncos, while David Stieler recorded a single…Garrett Klotz, Stefan Elliott and Chris Durand picked up the regulation goals for the Blades…Durand was also the lone skater to score in the shoot-out…Travis Yonkman suffered the loss turning aside 30 of 33 shots.

LAST GAME:The Swift Current Broncos got a big 4-1 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings Friday night at the Credit Union i-plex…Daniel Bartek opened the scoring for Brandon, recording the lone first period goal…Trailing 1-0 after the first the Broncos responded with 4 unanswered goals from David Stieler, Eric Doyle, Matt Tassone, and Dale Weise with an empty net goal…Travis Yonkman got the start in net, making 27 saves for the win…The Club finished 1 for 4 on the man advantage; while the Wheat Kings went 0 for 6…Next action for the Club is Tuesday night when the Calgary Hitmen come to town for the second meeting of the season…The Broncos are currently sitting in 3rd in the East Division, 2 points behind Regina with 3 games in hand and 1 point behind Brandon with 2 games in hand.

NUMBERS: Erik Felde (12 goals, 14 assists) and Zack Smith (8 goals, 18 assists) lead the Broncos with 26 points a piece on the season……Michael Wilson recorded 2 assists against the Wheat Kings and is currently in 4th place for the point lead amongst WHL defensemen with 22 points (2 goals, 20 assists)…Keegan Dansereau has 21 points in 19 games (10 goals, 11 assists)…Dale Weise recorded a goal and an assist in Friday’s contest and is on a 4 game point streak – He now has 11 goals and 6 assists in 16 games played…Eric Doyle has recorded 4 goals and 14 assists good for 18 points and 6th place amongst WHL defensemen…Wilson leads the Broncos and sits 1st amongst WHL skaters for +/-, currently rated +20…The Broncos have 12 skater with a positive +/- rating…Netminder Travis Yonkman is rated 7th among WHL goaltenders with a 2.27 goals against average and a 0.913 save percentage…The Broncos are averaging 30 shots for per game…The team is scoring 3.7 goals per game while they are allowing 2.8…The Broncos are an impressive 10-0-0-2 when leading after 40 minutes of play and 8-1-0-2 when they score first…Only 3 Broncos (Brad Hoban, Derek Claffey, and Joel Rogers) have yet to score this season…The last time the Broncos have had 30 points in 23 games to start the season was the 2003-04 season, when the Club had recorded 14 wins, 2 ties and 8 losses.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The Broncos power play ranked 7th in the WHL and is currently operating at 19.7% …The team has scored 27 power play goals on 137 attempts… Keegan Dansereau has 5 power play goals to lead the Broncos, while Erik Felde has9 power play assists…On the penalty kill, the Broncos are currently ranked 17th in the WHL with an 81.1% efficiency rating.

ROSTER: The Broncos roster currently consists of 22 players (2 goaltenders, 7 defensemen, 13 forwards)…The team has 3 – 20 year old players, 7 – 19 year old players, 4 – 18 year old players, 5 – 17 year old players, and 3 – 16 year old players…By location, the Broncos have 4 Saskatchewan born players, 8 Alberta born players, 5 British Columbia born players, 2 Manitoba born players, 2 players from the Czech Republic, and 1 American player…The Broncos average age is 18 while their average height is 6’0.5” and weight 186.9 lbs.