If they were going to lose an eighth straight game overall and drop a 10th consecutive home game on Saturday, the Swift Current Broncos weren’t going to go down easily…as the Saskatoon Blades found out!
Thanks to the only back-to-back goals by the same team of the night in the second period, the Bridge City Bunch managed to out-score Speedy Creek 6-4. Randen Schmidt and Chase Wouters scored 3:39 apart around the mid-point of the second period to break a 2-2 tie and the Broncos couldn’t catch up…try as they might!
“They were playing with purpose. They kind of hung around there,” explained Blue and Gold associate coach Ryan Marsh when it came to Swift Current’s scrappy, never-say-die effort. “But, I liked our effort (Saturday) night. We did what we needed to do, I thought our process was still good. We talked about that (Friday) night (following the 4-2 loss in Brandon) and (Saturday) night we were able to finish the job.”
Even after they fell behind by two goals, the Broncos kept closing the gap to one on two separate occasions…eventually succumbing for a 39th regulation loss in 53 games this season when Tristen Robins scored into an empty net with nine seconds remaining in the third period.
The Blades also got goals from Alex Morozoff, Kyle Crnkovic (pictured) and Caiden Daley. Crnkovic’s goal came while Saskatoon was playing short-handed late in the first period. Crnkovic and Robins each added two assists for three-point games while Wouters chipped in a helper to go with his power play goal as the Bridge City Bunch out-shot Speedy Creek 33-16…15-2 in the second period alone. The quirk to that latter stat was the fact the Broncos scored on both second period shots against Blue and Gold goaltender Koen MacInnes.
The result improves the Blades’ record to 28-22-5 for 61 points, two behind third place Brandon. Saskatoon is off until a Friday visit to Regina. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 6 at Swift Current Broncos 4 – Status: Final
Saturday, February 15, 2020 – Innovation Credit Union i-plex – Swift Current, SK
Saskatoon 2 2 2 – 6
Swift Current 1 2 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Morozoff 7 1:57. 2, Swift Current, Bulych 2 (Jerome, Nagy), 3:53. 3, Saskatoon, Crnkovic 16 14:15 (SH). Penalties-Fasko-Rudas Sas (high sticking), 13:35; Wouters Sas (interference), 15:49.
2nd Period-4, Swift Current, Jerome 17 (Bulych), 1:11. 5, Saskatoon, Schmidt 2 (Robins, Walford), 7:29. 6, Saskatoon, Wouters 22 (Crnkovic, Robins), 11:08 (PP). 7, Swift Current, Kaluski 19 (Jerome, Nagy), 18:15. Penalties-Nagy Sc (cross checking), 3:53; Wouters Sas (boarding), 8:07; Jerome Sc (slashing), 9:21.
3rd Period-8, Saskatoon, Daley 4 (Wouters, Dach), 13:22. 9, Swift Current, Bulych 3 (Toman), 15:14. 10, Saskatoon, Robins 27 (Crnkovic, Kneen), 19:52 (EN). Penalties-Saleski Sc (interference), 4:35; served by Bulych Sc (too many men), 5:25; Wouters Sas (boarding), 15:23.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 11-15-8-34. Swift Current 6-2-8-16.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 4; Swift Current 0 / 4.
Goalies-Saskatoon, MacInnes 12-5-1-0 (16 shots-12 saves). Swift Current, Poulter 9-26-1-2 (33 shots-28 saves).
A-1,963
Referees-Tyler Jensen (49), Austin Weisberger.
Linesmen-Greg Sarauer (68), Logan Tisdale (98).
