Joel Hofer made 23 saves in his first career WHL start as the Swift Current Broncos opened the 2017-18 WHL season with a 5-2 win in Saskatoon.

The 17-year-old was calm and composed after a 45 minute delay to start the game.

“I thought he was outstanding,” said Broncos Head Coach/Director of Player Personnel Manny Viveiros. “Quite honestly I think we were all a little bit nervous for him his first game and opening night. He handled it remarkably well. He seemed very calm and cool out there and played very well for us.”

Hofer got the start despite the addition of 20-year-old Logan Flodell this week as the Broncos wanted to give the veteran more time to get settled in his new surroundings.

Captain Glenn Gawdin scored twice and was dominant on a line with Tyler Steenbergen and Aleksi Heponiemi in the victory.

“There's so much skill and talent on that line and they're all really smart hockey people,” Viveiros said. “They're going to wear people down. I think they wore the opposition down tonight. It didn't matter what line they played against they wore them down.”

The Broncos scored four times in the third period to pull ahead from down 2-1. Riley Stotts tied the game after a nice feed from Steenbergen and Conner Chaulk converted Kaden Elder's pass for the go-ahead goal.

That's the kind of secondary scoring the Broncos are going to need to compliment their top line.

“For us to have success similar to last year you just can't rely on one line or two lines you have to have secondary scoring all the way through,” Viveiros said. “Some guys stepped up real big tonight and had some good opportunities. If we're going to have success this season we're going to need contributions from everybody.”

Stotts and 16-year-old Logan Barlage found themselves together on the power play and on an even strength line later in the game. The combination of Swift Current's two most recent first round picks seemed to find some early chemistry.

“To be quite honest earlier in training camp we put them together and they weren't really mixing,” Viveiros said. “But you put them together in this type of atmosphere and game situation and their natural instincts took over. I thought they looked really good and that's something we're going to address for next week.”

Steenbergen had two assists for Swift Current in the win.

The Broncos and Blades both went 0 for 2 on the power play.

Swift Current is now off until Wednesday when they visit the Regina Pats in a re-match of last season's second round series. The Broncos don't play at home until October 7th against Kootenay.