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| Glenn Gawdin’s hat trick delivered the Broncos to victory. |
On Tuesday night at the Angel of the Winds Arena, Gawdin had
all three of the Broncos goals including the late third period equalizer and
the overtime winner to deliver Swift Current to a 3-2 victory over the host
Everett Silvertips in Game 3 of the WHL Championship series. With the overtime
win, the Broncos take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time at the
Angel of the Winds Arena. The Silvertips also host Game 5 of the series slated
for Friday.
The Silvertips built a 2-1 lead in the first period before 4,872 spectators and that
edge help up until late in the third. With the Broncos killing a penalty, Swift
Current right-winger Beck Malenstyn and Gawdin, who is the Broncos captain,
broke into the Everett zone on a two-on-two rush.
Malenstyn dropped a pass to Gawdin, who fired a long drive
on goal. Silvertips star netminder Carter Hart stopped the long shot, but gave
up a big rebound. Gawdin drove to the Everett goal after his first shot and
banged home the rebound to force a 2-2 tie with 3:17 to play in the frame.
Just 2:40 into overtime, Broncos offensive defenceman Colby
Sissons fed a pass from the left corner boards in the Everett zone to Gawdin in
the high slot. The Richmond, B.C., product fired home the winning goal to the
top left corner of the Silvertips goal to give the Broncos their second
straight overtime victory of the series.
On Saturday in Swift Current, the Broncos rallied back from
a 3-0 deficit in the first period to post a 4-3 victory in overtime in Game 2
of the WHL title series.
In Tuesday’s clash, Gawdin gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead at
the 14:44 mark of the first period taking a drop pass from linemate Aleksi
Heponiemi and firing a shot from the right slot to the top left corner of the
Silvertips goal.
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| Patrick Bajkov left for the Silvertips dressing room twice on Tuesday. |
The scored remained 2-1 in Everett’s favour after 40 minutes
thanks to a great diving save by Skinner on a one-timer from Fonteyne in the
second period. Fonteyne received a pass from linemate Garrett Pilon from across
the front of the Swift Current goal but was unable to drive the puck home.
That set the stage for Gawdin to complete his hat trick
dramatics with a goal late in the third and in overtime. During his WHL career,
Gawdin has come through in many critical moments for the Broncos.
Skinner turned away 37 shots to pick up the win in goal for
the Broncos. Hart stopped 29 shots to take the setback in the Silvertips net.
Sissons finished with two assists for the Broncos, while
Christiansen had two helpers for the Silvertips.
Silvertips star overage right-winger Patrick Bajkov left for his
team’s dressing room a couple of times during the contest.
With the win, the Broncos insured that their season will
make it back to Saskatchewan. They could return to Swift Current for either
Games 6 or 7 of the WHL Championship series, which are set for this coming Sunday
and Monday respectively. The Silvertips have to win one of the next two games
of the WHL title series for that to happen.
If the Broncos manage to win the WHL title series in
Everett, they will advance to play in the Memorial Cup championship tournament
to play for the CHL title, and that event runs May 18 to 27 in Regina.
Back in the Express with Rush’s Thompson
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| Rush transition player Jeremy Thompson is a fan favourite. |
Thompson has been a fan favourite since the Rush franchise
relocated from Edmonton to Saskatoon
before the start of the 2016 season.
He grew up in the
Onondaga Nation located near Syracuse in upstate New York, and he said lacrosse
is very important to his people. The sport came from the Iroquois Confederacy,
which the Onondaga Nation is part of.
Children of the
Onondaga Nation are given a homemade traditional wooden lacrosse stick in their
cradle when they are born. In death, they carry a traditional wooden lacrosse
stick in their casket.
The cultural link to
lacrosse is part of Thompson’s fascinating story.
This season, he
played in all of the Rush’s 18 regular season games collecting six goals and
nine assists. Thompson finished fourth in the NLL with 234 faceoff wins and
second with 164 loose ball pick ups.
The Rush finished
first overall in the entire NLL this season with a 14-4 record. On Sunday, the
Rush host their archrivals the Calgary Roughnecks in the Western Division final
on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
The Roughnecks
finished third in the Western Division with an 8-10 mark and upset the Colorado
Mammoth 15-12 in a Western Division semifinal contest last Saturday. The
Mammoth were second in the Western Division with an 11-7 record.
The Rush claimed all
three regular season encounters with the Roughnecks this season. The Rush
prevailed 13-12 on Jan. 27 in Calgary, 10-6 on Feb. 24 in Saskatoon and 11-10
on April 28 in Saskatoon.
Saskatchewan had the
top two scorers in the league during the regular season. Veteran forward Mark
Matthews topped the NLL in scoring with 32 goals and 84 assists, and forward
Robert Church finished second in the league scoring race with 47 goals and 60
assists.
Curtis Dickson
topped the Roughnecks in regular season scoring and placed seventh overall in
the league with 47 goals and 45 assists.
The Rush are trying
to advance to the NLL Championship series for the fourth straight year having
claimed a league title in 2015, when the franchise was still in Edmonton, and
another league championship in 2016, which was the team’s first campaign in
Saskatchewan.
The story on
Thompson can be found right here.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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