The Swift Current Broncos maybe played their best forty minutes of the season.

The problem was they couldn't get that number up to sixty in a close 3-1 loss in Prince George this afternoon.

"Our effort overall was really good," said Broncos assistant coach Brandin Cote. "We haven't won in a bit and that wears on you. A long road trip and I thought in the third period we probably ran out of steam a little bit especially after they scored the go-ahead goal. Overall in terms of our structure and the way we asked them to play... it was a very good game."

Jackson Leppard pulled the Cougars ahead early in the third period and Prince George seemed to carry the play down the stretch.

"There was a lot of good efforts," Cote said. "Our goaltender (Joel Hofer) kept us in the game and we had some good opportunities we just didn't take advantage of early in the game. Once you get behind the wind just came out of our sails a little bit. We have to look at it as a processs... it was a lot better than what we've seen recently."



Swift Current got off to a good start firing 14 shots on net in the first period and generating as much offensive zone time as they have on this trip so far.

"We were moving the puck and we got out of our zone a lot cleaner and quicker," Cote said. "Anytime you talk about teams playing fast it's about getting out of your zone, moving the puck up to your forwards quick and then putting it behind their defence. I thought that we did that. We still had a few turnovers in the neutral zone that caused us to be in our end more than we'd like, but it was a lot cleaner. Our communication was better between our forwards and defence. We just executed our passes a lot crisper than what we have in recent games."

Prince George opened the scoring on a turnover by the Broncos on a clearing attempt. It led to a hard Austin Crossley point shot that Ethan Browne converted on the rebound.



The Broncos tied it up when Tanner Nagel struck on the power play. Alec Zawatsky found him at the side of the net and Nagel lifted a backhand in for his second of the season. He has three points in four games on the BC swing.

"We have to rely on our older guys to help us score," Cote said. "We're going to have to score dirty goals around the net and he's been doing that lately."

Neither team found the net in the second period as they exchanged chances. The Broncos were outshooting the Cougars 25-23 through forty minutes of play and were close on several opportunities that young goaltender Taylor Gauthier turned aside.

Swift Current had stayed out of the penalty box for most of the hockey game before Ben King and Andrew Fyten both took minors on the same shift. That led to a full two-minute 5 on 3 that carried into the third period for Prince George. The Broncos killed it off and seemed to have some momentum off the kill.

That's when the Cougars struck and Leppard was left open in the slot to beat Hofer through the five-hole for the eventual game winner. After the goal Swift Current's play started to sag.

"When teams are struggling to get points just that one little play," Cote noted. "You have the momentum and we did a really good job killing that 5 on 3 off. Obviously our goaltender made some good saves, but we were in good positions, we blocked some shots, they didn't get a whole lot on that and then bam (they get scored on) right away. It's almost like a mental thing where we've got to keep pushing through. Don't let it phase you... but those moments when things aren't going your way, when you're not winning as much it's hard. As a team we have to keep encouraging them to break through that."

Fatigue may have been a factor as well. The Cougars hadn't played since last Sunday in Cranbrook, while the Broncos were in the fifth game of a six game road swing. They didn't seem to have as much jump in their step on a late power play and 6 on 5 push with Hofer pulled.

The Cougars were able to extend their lead on a power play midway through the period when Josh Curtis jammed in a rebound to make it 3-1.

Prince George outshot the Broncos 17-6 in the third for a total of 40-31. Both teams went 1 for 4 on the man advantage.

Swift Current lost their fourth straight and dropped to 1-11-0-0 on the season, while the Cougars picked up a third straight win and sit 5-5-0-1.

Ben King had his three-game point streak snapped in the loss.

The Broncos had Matthew Stanley back in the lineup after his two game suspension for a one-man fight against Vancouver. Billy Sowa (day-to-day), Christien Riemer, Carter Spenst and Artyom Minulin (upper body, two weeks) were scratched.

It was a father vs. son battle this afternoon as Ethan O'Rourke's father Steve is an associate coach with the Cougars.

"We always joked about how he'd be the first coach to get a penalty for yelling at the other (team's) player to skate faster," Ethan told us during our pre-game show.

This was the first time the Broncos have played against the Cougars since former Swift Current Coach/GM Mark Lamb took over as the General Manager in Prince George. He spoke to our broadcast during the first intermission.



Joel Hofer had the rare opportunity to participate in a ceremonial face-off between goalies for the second time this season. This time it was Prince George celebrating Gautier's performance in the U18 tournament for Canada this summer. Hofer had also participated in ceremonial face-off in Moose Jaw. He's 0 for 2 in the dot this season.

Swift Current finishes off their six-game road swing in Kelowna on Tuesday. They're then back home on Saturday to host Everett in a re-match of the most recent WHL Championship Final series and a return to Swift Current for defenceman Sahvan Khaira.

Due to World Series coverage on the Eagle 94.1, Tuesday's game will be live on Magic 97.1 FM with Robertson Family Group Broncos Hockey at 7:30pm.