In a performance eerily reminiscent to anther Swift Current goaltender three years ago, Joel Hofer made 53 saves and two more in the shootout as the Broncos beat Brandon 3-2 to earn their first victory of the season.



Now professional goalie Landon Bow made had a similar 53 save performance in Swift Current's first win of the 2015-16 season in Brandon.

The win got a long six game road swing for Swift Current off to a good start as they snapped a seven game losing skid in dramatic fashion.

"It's so big for us," said Broncos assistant coach Brandin Cote. "We could see it coming and to get a win like this to start the road trip out to Vancouver the mood is going to be 100% better. For us the confidence level and the demeanor of the guys is going to be up. The moral is going to be up."



Swift Current had been steadily improving in recent games with two one-goal losses last weekend and a hard battle with Spokane last night. The loss was only Brandon's second of the season as the Wheat Kings are off to a very strong start.

"The guys battled hard," Cote said. "It carried over from a week of practice and even our game against Spokane. They battled. Our goaltender was obviously a big part of that. We killed off some big penalties... but we stuck with it and found a way to get two points."

Andrew Fyten led the way among skaters with a goal and an assist in a very determined effort from the veteran leader on his 20th birthday.

"He was a leader in terms of his work ethic and just overall play," Cote noted. "Those guys have been around being through the long road trips... I thought our older guys were probably our best players tonight. He stepped up in a lot of different ways."

Alec Zawatsky also scored his team leading fourth goal of the season, while he and Max Patterson struck for the Broncos in the shootout.

For Hofer it was a statement performance after a rough start to the season for his team had his numbers out of whack with his usual level of play.

"He's going to be a big part of our team going forward no matter what," Cote said. "For him to come in after a long bus trip getting in at 6am for him to be dialed in the way he was he made some big saves at key times and kept us in the game. We're going to need that going forward."

The Broncos got off to a good start in the first period with a strong penalty kill and a power play that fired seven shots at rookie goalie Ethan Krueger. Brandon turned that around midway through the period with 12 shots in eight minutes to finish the period and a Mattheos goal on a delayed penalty.

Brandon kept that pressure on early in the second period and Joel Hofer kept Swift Current in the game with some big saves before they were able to push back. Patterson then sprung Fyten and Zawatsky on two man breakaway that Zawatsky finished to tie the game.



Hofer ended up taking a questionable tripping penalty a few minutes later that allowed Mattheos to lift the Wheat Kings back up by a goal heading into the third period. Fyten had another opportunity to tie the game on a shorthanded breakaway that was denied by Brandon's rookie netminder Ethan Kruger.

Fyten drew Swift Current back even by busting down the left wing on a nice bank pass by Connor Horning before throwing the puck out front and having it deflect off a Wheat King over Kruger. He then had the best chance to win the game in overtime when he hit the post on a late Broncos power play.



Swift Current went 0 for 5 on the man advantage and held the Wheat Kings to 1 for 7. After struggling early in the season, the Broncos penalty kill was 10 for 11 on the weekend.

"I thought it was really good," Cote said. "Even in the games before... there were just little tiny breakdowns. We really put an emphasis on it this week in practice. We just made some adjustments in terms of taking away the middle of the ice, having good sticks, being in good position around the net, clearing the puck and blocking shots when you need to. The guys have bought in to that so hopefully we can continue down that path going into the BC trip."

Garrett Sambrook made his debut with the Broncos after being added from Brandon in a trade for a conditional 9th round bantam draft pick earlier this week.

The Broncos now head to BC to start their annual western trip in Langley against the Vancouver Giants. Both Tuesday's game against Vancouver and Wednesday's against Victoria will be live on Magic 97 due to contractual obligations to playoff baseball on The Eagle 94.1 FM.