Keens Korner

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Keen's Korner

Thursday, March 06, 2008
Zack Smith's Muffin Wins it in OT


A wild ending to the Broncos game last night....


Zack Smith's floater from outside the top of the circle beat Brandon goaltender Joe Caliguri in overtime for a 4-3 Broncos victory. The win keeps their hopes for a division title alive. The Broncos, Brandon and Moose Jaw are now all three points back of Regina for the east division lead.


The Wheat Kings rallied back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie the game after two periods and then take the lead with 2:04 to play on Daryl Boyle's PP goal.


The Broncos Michael Wilson tied it with 44 seconds to go just as the extra-attacker got on the ice as Mark Guggenberger raced to the bench.
The Wheat Kings had a full two minute powerplay in OT after Eric Doyle was fingered for shooting the puck out of play in his own zone resulting in a delay of game call.
With just seconds remaining in the penalty, Smith skated the puck up ice on a 1-on-2 situation and wristed a long one that beat a stunned Joe Caliguri in the Brandon goal. It was Smith's 20th goal of the season and 4th point of the night and a team leading 65th point.


The Broncos now have six 20-goal scorers and Geordie Wudrick (19) and Matt Tassone (18) could join the group by the end of the weekend.


The Broncos go 4-0-1-1 on their six game homestand and now get set for four straight on the road starting in Lethbridge tomorrow night.

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Fraser's Phrases

Thursday, March 6, 2008
Quite the night for Smitty

Zach Smith had a night to remember for the Swift Current Broncos Wednesday.

The 19-year-old centre and captain was honoured as the team's player of the year for 2007-08 before the club's WHL contest in Speedy Creek against the Brandon Wheat Kings, and followed that with a four-point performance, including the shorthanded overtime winner as the Broncos beat the Wheat Kings for the second time in six tries this season 4-3.

With Broncos defenceman Eric Doyle in the penalty box for delay game after accidentally clearing the puck over the glass, Smith took a pass from Derek Claffey and converted on a seemingly harmless 1-on-2 rush when he fired a wrist shot through a Brandon defenceman (I believe it was Keith Aulie from the top of the face-off circle and it beat puckstopper Joe Caligiuri high to the blocker side with one second remaining on the Doyle penalty.

It wasn't pretty and it's likely one that Caligiuri would like to have back. But to be fair to the Winnipeg netminder I don't think he saw the puck leave Smith's stick through his own blueliner. Smith looked as though he was just trying to kill the rest of the Swift Current penalty. Instead, he became the overtime hero and proved that throwing the puck on net in overtime is never a bad thing.

Smith also engaged in a spirited scrap with Brandon captain Daryl Boyle after Boyle took exception to a hit along the boards (that appeared to be clean) on by Smith on Matt Lowry.


"I was getting tired (at the end of the penalty kill), so I thought I'd throw it on net. I think it went of (the defenseman's leg) and took a little rainbow path to the net and found the net which was a surprise, I haven't put one home for a few games." - Zack Smith

It was Smith's 20th of the season and kept the Broncos in the running for the East Division pennant. And what a race it is, with Regina holding a three-point lead on Swift Current, Brandon and Moose Jaw. Wow.

There were also plenty of dramatics before overtime, as Broncos blueliner Michael Wilson beat Caligiuri with a low wrist shot from the slot with Swift Current netminder on the bench for an extra attacker to even the score 3-3 with 44 seconds remaining.

That goal came 1:20 after it looked like the Wheat Kings might win it in regulation, as captain Daryl Boyle fired a slap shot past Guggenberger on the power play that gave Brandon its first lead.

"It's disappointing for sure," Wheat Kings head coach/GM Kelly McCrimmon told CKLQ's Bruce Luebke following the game. "I thought we made a great play on the power play to take a 3-2 lead. It would have been a tremendous victory for our team had we been able to get it nailed down but that wasn't the case."

The Broncos opened the scoring with David Steiler converting twice in the first period, the first of which coming off a nice feed from Smith. The Wheat Kings scored twice in the second including Matt Calvert on a shorthanded breakaway and Daniel Bartek batting a Nathan Green pass out of the air at about knee level.

The Wheat Kings held the edge in the shot department 36-23 on the night. It was Swift Current's first win against Brandon in its last four tries and the Broncos finished their six-game home stand at 4-0-1-1. But as we've seen most of the season, it's a battle to try and move up the standings. Five of the past eight Broncos' games have gone to overtime (which is part of the reason why it's tough to move up when you're handing out three points a game, and we've seen that a lot this season in the Eastern Conference).

If the Broncos want a chance at the East Division crown, they will have to do it the hard way as four of their final five games are on the road. Brandon has three of its final five games on home ice and three of it games are against non-playoff teams. The Wheat Kings definitely have the edge in the schedule and how big is that home-and-home series with Regina on the final weekend of the season looking right now? That being said, how big is the Swift Current/Moose Jaw home-and-home series the same weekend looking as well in terms of playoff positioning?

The other two Eastern Conference playoff teams in action last night, Kootenay and Medicine Hat, both won against non-playoff teams (imagine that) so the Broncos kept pace but weren't able to gain any ground on those two clubs. The Tigers have now caught the Lethbridge Hurricanes for third in the conference. However, that is a little big deceiving with the ’Canes holding three games in hand on the Tigers.

A night off in league play before another exciting weekend ahead. Will the playoff positions be a little more clear come Monday? Only time will tell....


Have a good Thursday.