nivek_wahs
03-28-2008, 07:03 AM
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/story.html?id=3056b3dd-736c-401f-96b1-0fa91c049124
Broncos barely miss D-men
Tim Switzer, Leader-Post
Published: Friday, March 28, 2008
The way the last two games of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal have gone, you'd barely know the Swift Current Broncos were missing their top two defencemen.
"We've been piecemealing it together with a bit of smoke and mirrors back there," said head coach Dean Chynoweth, whose team split two overtime games at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. "But you have to give the guys credit who have stepped up back there and taken on a greater role. It's just going to get tougher. That's not going to change. We're going to have to keep having those big efforts from guys back there."
It has, however, taken some drastic measures at this stage of the game to replace Michael Wilson (concussion) and Jesse Dudas (broken wrist).
In Game 4 on Wednesday, 16-year-old Joel Rogers was inserted into the lineup and thrown into the fire for a few shifts when 20-year-old blueliner Bretton Stamler was hobbled. A night earlier in Game 3, the Broncos had high-scoring forward Erik Felde playing defence for two regulation periods and the overtime frame. He returned to the front lines for Game 4.
"It's a little tough moving between positions -- it's more mental than anything else," said Felde, who was a regular on the blue line in junior A hockey and has been moving back and forth with the Broncos all season. "But at this time of the year, this is where you have to do whatever it takes to help the team win, whether it's as a forward or a defenceman."
While the loss of those two defencemen and the potential catastrophe have been well-documented, the Broncos aren't letting it rattle them in the dressing room or on the ice.
"It's the same feeling without them, but when they are out there, they make a huge difference," said Felde. "But we've gotten used to playing without them with a couple injuries they've had before. We've won without them before and we can do it again.
"It doesn't change the way we play. It just changes the guys who are out there."
Dudas is out for the postseason, but there is a chance Wilson will return -- maybe even against the Pats. Chynoweth doesn't expect Wilson to return for tonight's Game 5 at the Brandt Centre (7 p.m.), but said the 20-year-old is undergoing the steps every concussion case needs to under WHL rules. Team medical staff planned to evaluated Wilson on Thursday after a light skate.
Until then, Chynoweth will continue to play with a juggled lineup. In addition to the changes with Felde and Rogers, Swift Current also dropped forward Spencer McAvoy back to the blueline and activated 17-year-old forward Mike Brown to take a spot up front.
"We've been resilient," said Chynoweth. "It's been a tall mountain to have to climb when you lose those guys in the first two games. Our group was good. They knew it was a blow, but they also knew it was an opportunity for other guys. So far, I give them full marks for it."
With Games 3 and 4 both going to overtime, conditioning is becoming more and more of a factor for the short-staffed Broncos, but Chynoweth is happy with what he sees so far.
"The reason we made the trades we did at the deadline was to get depth," said Chynoweth, whose club picked up Dudas and Stamler at the league's trade deadline. "The group we have back there now is the group we've had since the beginning of the year minus Stamler. Jesse Dudas is a huge, huge loss to the club and so is Michael Wilson. That would be like the Pats taking out (Logan) Pyett and (Victor) Bartley."
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008
Broncos barely miss D-men
Tim Switzer, Leader-Post
Published: Friday, March 28, 2008
The way the last two games of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal have gone, you'd barely know the Swift Current Broncos were missing their top two defencemen.
"We've been piecemealing it together with a bit of smoke and mirrors back there," said head coach Dean Chynoweth, whose team split two overtime games at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. "But you have to give the guys credit who have stepped up back there and taken on a greater role. It's just going to get tougher. That's not going to change. We're going to have to keep having those big efforts from guys back there."
It has, however, taken some drastic measures at this stage of the game to replace Michael Wilson (concussion) and Jesse Dudas (broken wrist).
In Game 4 on Wednesday, 16-year-old Joel Rogers was inserted into the lineup and thrown into the fire for a few shifts when 20-year-old blueliner Bretton Stamler was hobbled. A night earlier in Game 3, the Broncos had high-scoring forward Erik Felde playing defence for two regulation periods and the overtime frame. He returned to the front lines for Game 4.
"It's a little tough moving between positions -- it's more mental than anything else," said Felde, who was a regular on the blue line in junior A hockey and has been moving back and forth with the Broncos all season. "But at this time of the year, this is where you have to do whatever it takes to help the team win, whether it's as a forward or a defenceman."
While the loss of those two defencemen and the potential catastrophe have been well-documented, the Broncos aren't letting it rattle them in the dressing room or on the ice.
"It's the same feeling without them, but when they are out there, they make a huge difference," said Felde. "But we've gotten used to playing without them with a couple injuries they've had before. We've won without them before and we can do it again.
"It doesn't change the way we play. It just changes the guys who are out there."
Dudas is out for the postseason, but there is a chance Wilson will return -- maybe even against the Pats. Chynoweth doesn't expect Wilson to return for tonight's Game 5 at the Brandt Centre (7 p.m.), but said the 20-year-old is undergoing the steps every concussion case needs to under WHL rules. Team medical staff planned to evaluated Wilson on Thursday after a light skate.
Until then, Chynoweth will continue to play with a juggled lineup. In addition to the changes with Felde and Rogers, Swift Current also dropped forward Spencer McAvoy back to the blueline and activated 17-year-old forward Mike Brown to take a spot up front.
"We've been resilient," said Chynoweth. "It's been a tall mountain to have to climb when you lose those guys in the first two games. Our group was good. They knew it was a blow, but they also knew it was an opportunity for other guys. So far, I give them full marks for it."
With Games 3 and 4 both going to overtime, conditioning is becoming more and more of a factor for the short-staffed Broncos, but Chynoweth is happy with what he sees so far.
"The reason we made the trades we did at the deadline was to get depth," said Chynoweth, whose club picked up Dudas and Stamler at the league's trade deadline. "The group we have back there now is the group we've had since the beginning of the year minus Stamler. Jesse Dudas is a huge, huge loss to the club and so is Michael Wilson. That would be like the Pats taking out (Logan) Pyett and (Victor) Bartley."
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008