 |
| Joona Kiviniemi celebrates scoring the OT winner for the Broncos. |
Nagel, who is the
Broncos overage captain, is the only holdover that was a regular on Swift
Current’s WHL championship winning team last season. During that run to the WHL
title, Nagel got to experience many thrilling victories including a number of
the comeback variety.
Now, the Broncos are
a team that has 10 players in their 17-year-old seasons and two in their 16-year-old
seasons on their 23-person roster. On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the
youthful Swift Current side experienced a rare high in a campaign where the
team has trudged along in last place in the entire WHL.
Trailing the host Saskatoon
Blades 4-2 with five minutes remaining in the third period, the Broncos roared
back to pull out a 5-4 overtime victory before 3,637 spectators.
 |
| Tanner Nagel scored twice for the Broncos on Saturday night. |
“We have a lot of
young guys in the room, so it is great to see them push back in games where we
are down,” said Nagel, who scored twice for the Broncos on Saturday. “That is
what we are trying to focus on is just teaching them that you have to keep
playing right until the bitter end.
“You are never out
of a game. We showed that here tonight.”
 |
| Alex Moar set up the Broncos overtime winner on Saturday night. |
Broncos head coach
and director of hockey operation Dean Brockman pulled netminder Riley Lamb for
an extra attacker with about three minutes remaining in the third. Swift
Current kept the play bottled in the Saskatoon zone with the extra skater.
With 1:35 remaining
in the stanza, Broncos 18-year-old right-winger Owen Blocker snipped the
equalizer past Blades netminder Dorrin Luding to force a 4-4 tie.
In overtime, both
sides had numerous scoring chances before Kiviniemi ended it.
 |
| The Broncos celebrate an equalizer from Owen Blocker, right. |
One night earlier,
the Blades dumped the Broncos 5-2 in Swift Current.
“Any time you win it
is a good day,” said Brockman, whose Broncos beat the Blades for the first time
this season in six tries on Saturday. “Certainly, they out-chanced us and had a
lot of shots.
“I give our guys a
lot of credit. We challenged them after (Friday) night’s game to be better and
work hard and they did. That is what you do when you work hard you find ways to
get success.”
 |
| Goalie Riley Lamb makes one of his 48 saves for the Broncos. |
The Broncos evened things up a 1-1 just under three minutes
later, when Nagel banged home a rebound for his first goal of the game off a
shot taken by defenceman Christian Riemer.
With 58.7 seconds remaining in the first period and
Saskatoon working on the power play, Blades overage offensive defenceman Dawson
Davidson scored on a point shot that just snuck under Lamb to give the host
side a 2-1 edge going into the first intermission.
 |
| Dawson Davidson scored for the Blades on Saturday night. |
The puck shot out to the centre ice zone, and O’Rourke
tracked it down and skated into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway. He tucked
home his eighth goal of the season to get the Broncos on even terms for a short
time.
Saskatoon jumped back out in front 3-2 just under four
minutes later thanks to a power-play goal coming off the stick of centre Eric
Florchuk.
Before the second period expired, left-winger Cyle McNabb
potted his fifth goal of the season to give the Blades a 4-2 advantage.
The Blades outshot the Broncos 16-4 in the third period but couldn’t prevent the Broncos
comeback dramatics late in the frame and in overtime.
 |
| Ethan O’Rourke pots a short-handed goal for the Broncos. |
“This is a team
where they’ve always had their backs up against the wall all year,” said
Brockman. “Nobody expects us to win a game.
“I want to give our
kids a lot of credit. They were pretty resilient and stayed with it and found a
way.”
Nagel was excited
about the final result.
“Winning is awesome,”
said Nagel. “It is the best feeling in the world.
“It doesn’t matter
if it is a game tonight or it is the WHL championship. A win is a win, and I
love to win. Anytime you can win a game it is awesome.
 |
| Eric Florchuk (#17) had a power-play goal for the Blades. |
The Blades are off until Friday, when they travel to Regina
to face the Pats at 7 p.m. at the
Brandt Centre.
The Broncos return to action on Wednesday, when they host
the Calgary Hitmen at 7 p.m. at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex. Nagel said
Saturday’s comeback victory will be a big time help to his team going forward.
“Any time we get the
young guys going and playing hard like this, it is great to see them keep
chugging along,” said Nagel. “They are learning as we go.
 |
| The Broncos celebrate their win on Saturday night. |
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