Star centre hopes to avoid one specific doghouse in Lethbridge
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| The Broncos celebrate Giorgio Estephan’s overtime winner. |
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – Giorgio Estephan has his figures
crossed that he avoids his girlfriend’s doghouse when he returns to Lethbridge.
Estephan spent the first four-and-a-half seasons of his WHL
career with the Hurricanes, and he came to the Broncos as part of a blockbuster
trade on Jan. 9. His girlfriend is from Lethbridge, and the personable Estephan
hopes he doesn’t get into trouble for his performance.
“It was a hard fought game,” said Estephan. “There was
definitely times throughout the game where everybody gets frustrated.
With 4:09 remaining in the second, standout sophomore
right-winger Dylan Cozens was chopped down on a break towards the Swift Current
net by Broncos star defenceman Colby Sissons and was awarded a penalty shot. On
the penalty shot, Cozens roofed a shot to the top left corner of the Swift
Current goal to force a 2-2 tie.
“We were playing a good game,” said Hurricanes head coach
Brent Kisio. “Obviously, (we had) a slow start, but I thought the second and
third period we played really well.
The first two games of the series have hurt the Broncos in
the injury department. In their 3-2 victory in Game 1 on Friday, Broncos
Russian import defenceman Artyom Minulin left with an injury and didn’t dress
for Game 2.
“I thought our kids responded after the second period. We
got back to playing the way we felt we need to play if we are going to have a
chance to win this series here. You get into overtime and anybody can win, and
we’re just fortunate enough to get that one extra chance.”
Having played at the Enmax Centre for the Hurricanes,
Estephan admitted his Broncos are going to be in for a challenge when they take
the ice in Lethbridge for Game 3 on Tuesday and Game 4 on Wednesday.
“They’ve been coming at us all series so far. We just have
to be prepared to manager their attack.”
On Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 2,890 spectators
at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex, Estephan capped a hat trick performance
scoring the winning goal for the Swift Current Broncos at the 9:41 mark of
overtime in Game 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference championship series.
The
overage star centre tapped home a midrange shot in the extra session from
defenceman Sahvan Khaira to give the Broncos a 4-3 victory over the Lethbridge
Hurricanes.
With the win, the Broncos took a 2-0 lead in the
best-of-seven series. Game 3 is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time at the
Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.
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| Giorgio Estephan had a hat trick for the Broncos on Saturday. |
“I hope she is happy,” said Estephan with a chuckle. “She is
from Lethbridge, but I mean, she cheers for both teams.
“She knows a lot of guys on the team too, so she is a good
sport for sure.”
The Edmonton, Alta., product’s overtime marker concluded a
classic back-and-forth playoff encounter. The Broncos took a 2-0 lead by the
end of the first period, but the Hurricanes rallied to go ahead 3-2 by the end
of the second frame.
Broncos star Finnish import left-winger Aleksi Heponiemi
wired home a shot from the slot on the power play to force a 3-3 tie at the
9:23 mark of the third period.
Early in overtime, Hurricanes defenceman Calen Addison wired
a shot off the post the Swift Current goal.
That set the stage for Estephan to net his winner.
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| An ice crew member cleans up Giorgio Estephan’s hat trick hats. |
“I think we stuck with our game plan. We stuck with things
that were making us good. You could see at times how good we were rolling.
“It felt pretty good at the end for sure.”
The Broncos jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first
period, when Estephan netted his first two goals of the night 55 second apart
from each other. He scored the first tally on the power play receiving a pass
from Broncos captain Glenn Gawdin across the face of the Lethbridge goal firing
the puck into an empty cage.
On the second goal, Estephan worked a perfect give-and-go
with linemate Max Patterson on a rush into the Lethbridge zone to net the second
tally.
The Hurricane stormed back in the second. The visitors
picked up their first goal off a positive bounce play, when Hurricanes captain
Jordy Bellerive deflected home a shot off Broncos right-winger Tanner Nagel
into the Swift Current net.
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| The Broncos fans cheer one of their team’s goals on Saturday. |
The Hurricanes pulled ahead 3-2 with 1:17 to play in the
second, when 18-year-old centre Jadon Joseph popped home a loose puck during a
net scramble.
That set the stage for Heponiemi to tie things up for the
Broncos in the third and for Estephan to win it in overtime.
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| Dylan Cozens scored on a penalty shot for the Hurricanes. |
“OT, we have a lot of chances. It is obviously tough, but
there was some questionable calls out there especially at the end. They (the
officials) just decided to put the whistles away.”
Stuart Skinner turned away 36 shots to pick up the win in
goal for the Broncos. Logan Flodell stopped 29 shots to take the setback in
goal for the Hurricanes.
Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny
Viveiros was pleased to see Estephan come through with a big outing.
“He stepped up, and that is why we brought him in with our
club like that,” said Viveiros. “He does a lot of stuff for us. He is a great
kid in the room and off the ice.
“On faceoffs, he makes a big difference. He is a real smart
player. He knows where to be in certain times, and I am very happy for him.”
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| Aleksi Heponiemi (#20) celebrates scoring his third period goal. |
In the first period of Game 2, Gawdin skated gingerly to the
bench after being on the receiving end of a hard hit into the boards from a
Hurricanes player and didn’t return to the game. Viveiros didn’t rule out
either returning for Game 3.
The bench boss was pleased his club could find a way to be
resilient once again.
“We were fortunate again to get a win tonight, but that is
playoff hockey so I’m certainly not going to apologize for that by any means
here,” said Viveiros, who Broncos finished second overall in the WHL in the
regular season with a 48-17-5-2 record. “I thought we played well in spurts
again this evening.
“At times, myself, I made some mistakes, and they
capitalized on it right away. Our guys worked hard. We’re up with a 2-0 lead,
and they come back and get three quick goals on us.
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| Calen Addison almost scored the OT winner for the Hurricanes. |
So far in the post-season, the Hurricanes have won all six
contests they have hosted at the Enmax Centre. Kisio likes his team’s chances
of getting a win in Game 3.
“Our group doesn’t lack confidence,” said Kisio, who
Hurricanes finished 16th overall in the WHL with a 33-33-6 mark. “We
will be fine.
“We’re going to get back into this series. We’ll go home,
and we will get it done.”
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| The Broncos scramble to get the puck out of the defensive zone. |
“I’ve been there and seen what the crowd is capable of,”
said Estephan. “They are going to come out buzzing.
“We have to be able to handle their pressure especially
early on in the game and push back as best we can. We all know they are going
to come at us. Why wouldn’t they?
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| The Broncos celebrate their Game 2 victory over the Hurricanes. |
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