Scout
03-07-2008, 07:39 AM
Only five games remain for Broncos
BY STEVEN MAH
The Southwest Booster
Only five games remain in the Swift Current Broncos season after they hosted the Brandon Wheat Kings last night. Check swbooster.com for a full summary.
After surrendering an extra point in a shootout loss to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors over the weekend the Broncos face an uphill battle to climb out of the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference.
On Friday the Broncos will be in Lethbridge to meet the Hurricanes before heading to Kootenay on Saturday.
Next Wednesday the Broncos will be in Saskatoon before a home-and-home series against Moose Jaw next weekend to end the regular season.
This past Sunday the Broncos lost to the Warriors for the first time in six meetings this season when Jordan Knackstedt scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Warriors earned a 2-1 shootout win over the host Broncos.
Knackstedt and Jason Bast both scored in the shootout for the Warriors, with Keegan Dansereau replying with the lone shootout goal for the Broncos.
Warriors netminder Todd Mathews turned aside 35 of 36 shots in regulation time, and then stopped shots from Geordie Wudrick and Matt Tassone in the shootout. Mathews is now 8-4-0-1 on the season.
Broncos goaltender Travis Yonkman stopped 38 of 39 shots and denied Riley Holzapfel in the shootout while dropping his sixth shootout decision of the season. Yonkman is 3-6 in shootout games and 28-19-0-6 on the season.
Bronco import forward David Stieler forced overtime when he scored his 21st goal of the season with 2:32 left in regulation.
The Broncos appeared to score the go-ahead goal with 1:47 remaining in regulation when Geordie Wudrick tipped in a point shot past Mathews. But after a long discussion between both referees and both linesman the puck was ruled to have been touched with a high stick.
Terrence Delaronde scored his 14th goal of the season during a first period powerplay to give Moose Jaw the one-goal lead they carried into the late going of the game.
Forward Justin Dowling, 17, admitted that the loss hurt the Broncos climb up the playoff standings.
"It is really disappointing. They are nipping at our heels here going into the playoffs. It hurts giving up the extra points because now I think they are tied with us going into the playoffs. Hopefully when we have that home-and-home with them at the end of the year we can capitalize and bear down and get that four points."
The Broncos were held to three goals over two weekend games.
"I think it was just two good goalies making saves. We just have to bear down and start putting the puck in the net and things will start going our way," said Dowling.
Dowling says being in the shootout puts a lot of pressure on the guys.
"It is a lot of pressure on a guy when there are 2,000 fans staring at you, hoping that you score and other fans hoping you miss. There is a lot of pressure going through the player's minds and it is a big step."
Dowling thinks the Broncos must stick to the basics in the final games of the season.
"I think we just have to play our game, be using our feet, using our wheels, be moving the puck, and advancing it. We just have to start stealing some points from these guys and start catching them in the race."
Dowling commented on his own play as he nears the end of his first season.
"I think that I have been playing pretty good as of late. I haven't really been getting the points that I wanted, I have been a little bit snake-bitten with that. But I think that I have been playing good and just have to keep going."
Broncos Head Coach and General Manager Dean Chynoweth admited the team did not do itself any favors in the playoff race.
"It is always disappointing when you are in a race like we are and every game seems to be a three-point game where someone is getting points out of it so it makes it extremely tough to climb in the standings.'
Special teams were a part of the loss tonight said Chynoweth.
"I didn't think we were real sharp on the powerplay. I thought that we were a little careless with some of our puck decisions. Their goal was just a clear simple point shot with a deflection in front. You can take a page out of that and we have had those at times and we definitely needed one tonight."
Chynoweth also explained that the return of leading goal scorer Dale Weise could be in the cards in the near future.
"We will see where he is in practice this week and try and make a decision towards the end of the week."
The single point decided in the shootout allowed Moose Jaw to tie Swift Current for seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings with 81 points. The Warriors, who scored a Tuesday win over Brandon, now have 83 points and sit a point up on the Wheat Kings. The Broncos took a 37-22-1-6 record into last night's game versus Brandon, one point back of the Wheat Kings for seventh place.
On Saturday night Mark Guggenberger stopped all 22 shots he faced to backstop the Broncos to a 2-0 shutout win over the visiting Chilliwack Bruins.
Guggenberger now has four shutouts in seven starts since joining the Broncos from the Portland Winter Hawks at the trade deadline.
Bruins netminder Matt Esposito was nearly as impressive in a losing effort, turning aside 29 of 31 shots and not allowing a goal until the third period.
Matt Tassone finally ended Esposito's shutout bid 4:53 into the third period with a spinning off-speed shot that fooled Esposito.
Defenseman Jesse Dudas added an insurance marker when he converted a Keegan Dansereau set-up for his fifth goal of the campaign.
Spencer McAvoy, 19, spent the game on the blueline in the absence of injured defenseman Derek Claffey. McAvoy said the two points were vital to the Broncos push in the Eastern Conference standings.
"We knew coming in that they have a really good powerplay with Moller, Santorelli, and Holden on the back end. We tried to stay out of the box and stay disciplined and when we did get the penalties just tried our best to kill them off and I thought we did that tonight and it paid off."
After failing to beat Esposito with numerous scoring chances, McAvoy explained it was good to see Tassone score on a slightly less glorious scoring chance.
"It was good to get a goal like that. We were working and we had chances, and our goalie made some unbelievable saves. We had to get one eventually and it was good to get one like that for Tassone who shoots everything. By the looks of it it pays off."
Playing their sixth game in nine days Chilliwack ended their first ever East Division road trip winless at 0-5-1-0. The Bruins fell to 26-32-4-4 and remain seventh in Western Conference.
Broncos Bits: the Broncos are 17-11-0-2 against the East Division this season, 14-6-1-3 against the Central Division, 5-1-0-1 against the B.C Division, and only 1-4-0-0 against the U.S. Division. When the Broncos score first they are 28-5-0-3, while they are 9-17-1-3 when the opposition scores first. Zack Smith leads the Broncos with 16 multiple point games followed by injured winger Dale Weise and Levi Nelson with 13 each.
BY STEVEN MAH
The Southwest Booster
Only five games remain in the Swift Current Broncos season after they hosted the Brandon Wheat Kings last night. Check swbooster.com for a full summary.
After surrendering an extra point in a shootout loss to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors over the weekend the Broncos face an uphill battle to climb out of the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference.
On Friday the Broncos will be in Lethbridge to meet the Hurricanes before heading to Kootenay on Saturday.
Next Wednesday the Broncos will be in Saskatoon before a home-and-home series against Moose Jaw next weekend to end the regular season.
This past Sunday the Broncos lost to the Warriors for the first time in six meetings this season when Jordan Knackstedt scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Warriors earned a 2-1 shootout win over the host Broncos.
Knackstedt and Jason Bast both scored in the shootout for the Warriors, with Keegan Dansereau replying with the lone shootout goal for the Broncos.
Warriors netminder Todd Mathews turned aside 35 of 36 shots in regulation time, and then stopped shots from Geordie Wudrick and Matt Tassone in the shootout. Mathews is now 8-4-0-1 on the season.
Broncos goaltender Travis Yonkman stopped 38 of 39 shots and denied Riley Holzapfel in the shootout while dropping his sixth shootout decision of the season. Yonkman is 3-6 in shootout games and 28-19-0-6 on the season.
Bronco import forward David Stieler forced overtime when he scored his 21st goal of the season with 2:32 left in regulation.
The Broncos appeared to score the go-ahead goal with 1:47 remaining in regulation when Geordie Wudrick tipped in a point shot past Mathews. But after a long discussion between both referees and both linesman the puck was ruled to have been touched with a high stick.
Terrence Delaronde scored his 14th goal of the season during a first period powerplay to give Moose Jaw the one-goal lead they carried into the late going of the game.
Forward Justin Dowling, 17, admitted that the loss hurt the Broncos climb up the playoff standings.
"It is really disappointing. They are nipping at our heels here going into the playoffs. It hurts giving up the extra points because now I think they are tied with us going into the playoffs. Hopefully when we have that home-and-home with them at the end of the year we can capitalize and bear down and get that four points."
The Broncos were held to three goals over two weekend games.
"I think it was just two good goalies making saves. We just have to bear down and start putting the puck in the net and things will start going our way," said Dowling.
Dowling says being in the shootout puts a lot of pressure on the guys.
"It is a lot of pressure on a guy when there are 2,000 fans staring at you, hoping that you score and other fans hoping you miss. There is a lot of pressure going through the player's minds and it is a big step."
Dowling thinks the Broncos must stick to the basics in the final games of the season.
"I think we just have to play our game, be using our feet, using our wheels, be moving the puck, and advancing it. We just have to start stealing some points from these guys and start catching them in the race."
Dowling commented on his own play as he nears the end of his first season.
"I think that I have been playing pretty good as of late. I haven't really been getting the points that I wanted, I have been a little bit snake-bitten with that. But I think that I have been playing good and just have to keep going."
Broncos Head Coach and General Manager Dean Chynoweth admited the team did not do itself any favors in the playoff race.
"It is always disappointing when you are in a race like we are and every game seems to be a three-point game where someone is getting points out of it so it makes it extremely tough to climb in the standings.'
Special teams were a part of the loss tonight said Chynoweth.
"I didn't think we were real sharp on the powerplay. I thought that we were a little careless with some of our puck decisions. Their goal was just a clear simple point shot with a deflection in front. You can take a page out of that and we have had those at times and we definitely needed one tonight."
Chynoweth also explained that the return of leading goal scorer Dale Weise could be in the cards in the near future.
"We will see where he is in practice this week and try and make a decision towards the end of the week."
The single point decided in the shootout allowed Moose Jaw to tie Swift Current for seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings with 81 points. The Warriors, who scored a Tuesday win over Brandon, now have 83 points and sit a point up on the Wheat Kings. The Broncos took a 37-22-1-6 record into last night's game versus Brandon, one point back of the Wheat Kings for seventh place.
On Saturday night Mark Guggenberger stopped all 22 shots he faced to backstop the Broncos to a 2-0 shutout win over the visiting Chilliwack Bruins.
Guggenberger now has four shutouts in seven starts since joining the Broncos from the Portland Winter Hawks at the trade deadline.
Bruins netminder Matt Esposito was nearly as impressive in a losing effort, turning aside 29 of 31 shots and not allowing a goal until the third period.
Matt Tassone finally ended Esposito's shutout bid 4:53 into the third period with a spinning off-speed shot that fooled Esposito.
Defenseman Jesse Dudas added an insurance marker when he converted a Keegan Dansereau set-up for his fifth goal of the campaign.
Spencer McAvoy, 19, spent the game on the blueline in the absence of injured defenseman Derek Claffey. McAvoy said the two points were vital to the Broncos push in the Eastern Conference standings.
"We knew coming in that they have a really good powerplay with Moller, Santorelli, and Holden on the back end. We tried to stay out of the box and stay disciplined and when we did get the penalties just tried our best to kill them off and I thought we did that tonight and it paid off."
After failing to beat Esposito with numerous scoring chances, McAvoy explained it was good to see Tassone score on a slightly less glorious scoring chance.
"It was good to get a goal like that. We were working and we had chances, and our goalie made some unbelievable saves. We had to get one eventually and it was good to get one like that for Tassone who shoots everything. By the looks of it it pays off."
Playing their sixth game in nine days Chilliwack ended their first ever East Division road trip winless at 0-5-1-0. The Bruins fell to 26-32-4-4 and remain seventh in Western Conference.
Broncos Bits: the Broncos are 17-11-0-2 against the East Division this season, 14-6-1-3 against the Central Division, 5-1-0-1 against the B.C Division, and only 1-4-0-0 against the U.S. Division. When the Broncos score first they are 28-5-0-3, while they are 9-17-1-3 when the opposition scores first. Zack Smith leads the Broncos with 16 multiple point games followed by injured winger Dale Weise and Levi Nelson with 13 each.