A disallowed goal and at least two posts led to a frustrating conclusion to a BC road swing for the Swift Current Broncos.

Despite a strong push late the Broncos were not able to force overtime in a 3-2 loss to Kelowna on Adam Foote's first night as Rockets head coach.

“We battled hard,” said Broncos assistant coach Scott Dutertre. “The first period we were really flat and we responded really well. The disallowed goal could have taken the wind out of our sails, but we were resilient and battled. I don't know how many posts we hit at the end. We had a lot of chances; we showed a lot of character.”



The game seemed to be going Swift Current's way midway through the second period when Joona Kiviniemi tied it up and then Andrew Fyten struck with a wrap-around goal moments later for what would have been a go-ahead 3-2 lead.

Referee Steve Papp immediately waived off the goal citing Max Patterson's presence as a deterrent to goaltender James Porter being able to make the save. Upon further review it appeared Patterson was briefly pushed into Porter and was quickly out of his way well before the Fyten goal. The disallowed goal turned quickly into a Kelowna lead shortly after when James Cowell scored the game winner on the rebound of a Kaedan Korczak shot.

Swift Current had their chances in the third period including a late four-minute power play and came close. Both Ethan O'Rourke and Connor Horning hit posts as the Broncos outshot the Rockets 9-3 down the stretch.



“We threw everything at them but the kitchen sink at the end there,” Dutertre said. “And hats off to [Kelowna] on the penalty kill too they blocked a few really good shots... we managed to get those secondary pucks and pick those pucks out of the corner and retrieve. It just wasn't working for us tonight in the end.”

The loss was the fifth in a row for the Broncos including three straight close losses in Kamloops, Prince George and now Kelowna where it appeared the young roster was taking a step forward.

“For us it's just keep sending that message about getting better incrementally all the time,” Dutertre noted. “It wasn't a great record on the road, but it's establishing those building blocks. We've been tightening up over the last few games. Our defensive zone has gotten a lot better. It's the flat starts that has been killing us.”

It didn't end up being a major factor in the result, but the Broncos were again concerned with their start. They've been slow out of the gate in all but one of the games on the trip including a poor first 10 minutes tonight that saw them down 1-0 and outshot 13-0.

“It's our mental prep,” Dutertre said. “Being ready to go... we just need to make some changes to that. You have to find meaning in what you do. Whatever we're doing right now isn't working at the start. For the rest of the game we've been really happy with their effort and compete level. We're starting to play on the right side of the puck. When we lose possession we're getting possession back quickly. It's just having that be ready before the game... we need to find a different way.”

The Broncos responded with an Alec Zawatsky power-play goal midway through the first period as his hard shot went off Porter's glove and in for Zawatsky's sixth of the season. The Broncos then outshot Kelowna 25-20 the rest of the way.

The Rockets went up 2-1 early in the second period when Kyle Topping scored his fifth of the season on a long delayed penalty. Swift Current just couldn't get control of the puck before the veteran scorer beat Joel Hofer on the rebound.

It took only 27 seconds for the Broncos to answer when Ben King won a puck battle behind the Kelowna net and set up a Matthew Culling one-timer. Kiviniemi ripped home the rebound for his third goal in his last four games.

Fyten's disallowed goal came very quickly after the tying goal and was set up by a nice drive to the net from Horning who was playing in his hometown for the first time as a Bronco. Fyten then grabbed Horning's rebound and wrapped around the net to tuck the puck in under Porter before the goal was waived off.

Swift Current went with the same lineup they had in Prince George with defencemen Artyom Minulin (lower body – two weeks), Billy Sowa (day-to-day), Christian Riemer, and Carter Spenst sitting out. Hofer stopped 30 of 33 Rockets shots including a very strong 20 saves to keep the game interesting in the first period.

The Broncos went 1 for 5 on the power play, while holding Kelowna to 0 for 2.

Tonight's loss ends the longest stretch of road games this season as the Broncos return home to host Everett on Saturday. The game will be a rematch of last season's WHL Chapionship Final and will feature Sahvan Khaira's return to Swift Current as a member of the Silvertips.

The Broncos are now 1-12-0-0 on the season and have only played three of those games on home ice. They will play 11 of their next 15 games at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex.