There was something in the air on a Friday night in southwest Saskatchewan.

With historic "Broncos Strong" jerseys on their backs, the Swift Current Broncos battled back again and again to find their first home win of the season 5-4 in overtime over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The jerseys designed by former Swift Current captain Taylor Vause will also be worn by the SJHL's Humboldt Broncos in recognition of the connection the two organizations and communities have in dealing with tragic loss from fatal bus crashes.

Noah King scored the overtime winner as the Broncos erased 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 deficits to snap an eight game losing streak.

"Joel (Hofer) made a good save down low and I was a little tired, got the puck moved it up to (Alec) Zawatsky," King said. "I kind of jumped in the rush, he moved the puck over and I kind of got lucky on the shot, but I'll take it."



It was an important victory for a hockey club that had been making strides during their losing skid without being rewarded with victories.

"Guys believed in themselves and played really hard," said Broncos Coach/DIrector of Hockey Operations Dean Brockman. "Eight or nine games ago we would have given up on that and our guys didn't. I give them a lot of credit for that. They stuck with it and they played right until the bitter end."

Getting to celebrate with the over 2400 fans at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex was also important for a young group that hadn't had that moment with their crowd yet.

"We have a lot of character in the room," Noah King said. "We never quit.. it was really nice it paid off and showed the home crowd we do have a lot of character and can win games like that."

The Broncos got off to a strong start for the second straight game putting some pressure on Lethbridge and taking a 7-0 lead in shots. After their second early power play sputtered they seemed to lose that momentum and the Hurricanes pounced. Quick goals from Calen Addison and Noah Boyko gave Lethbridge a 2-0 lead and control of the game in the first.

Swift Current had one more big push in the final minute of the period that ended with Max Patterson deflecting in a Connor Horning point shot to close the gap and send the Broncos to the dressing room on a positive note.

"If we don't get that goal we might be hanging our head," Brockman said. "I thought it gave us a big spark."



Lethbridge pulled ahead 3-1 in the second period on a Jadon Joseph power play goal, but the Broncos didn't sag. Andrew Fyten came right back less than a minute later with a hard snap shot off the rush to close the gap again.

"We were resilient tonight," Patterson said. "We were going to battle back we had that belief in ourselves. No matter what they threw at us we were ready to battle back."

It was a heart and soul effort from Fyten all night who won 21 of 34 face-offs, killed penalties, blocked shots and drove the net on a number of occasions.

Rookie Ben King drew Swift Current even midway through the third period as Patterson won a puck in the corner and threw it out front. King knocked the rebound out of mid-air for his second career WHL goal and a huge ovation from the home fans.

That's when a couple of mental errors cost the young team with back-to-back penalties for too many men and a delay of game call. The Broncos limited Lethbridge's chances with an aggressive penalty kill before the Hurricanes finally broke through in the final moments of the second advantage on a Ty Kolle one-timer.

Swift Current quickly put the puck in Lethbridge territory and got Hofer to the bench for an extra attacker. That led to a Hurricanes power play and eventually a Horning goal through traffic with only 36 seconds to spare.

"It's huge for us," Patterson said. "We had no passengers tonight which was huge. Everybody bought in. Our goalie saved us when we needed us. It was a huge win for us."



Alex Moar had an assist on the tying goal on his first game since joining the Broncos from Everett in a deal for veteran defenceman Artyom Minulin.

Fyten, Horning, Zawatsky and Patterson all had two-point nights.

Hofer made 42 saves to earn his second win of the season, while the Broncos fired 40 shots on Lethbridge goalie Reece Klassen. A victory moved the Broncos to 2-14-0-1 on the season. Lethbridge drops to 7-5-2-2 and remains winless in overtime.

This win and Tuesday's shootout loss against Kootenay was the first time this season the Broncos earned points in back-to-back games.

"Keep going," Noah King noted. "It's been a bit of a tough start to the year, but we're getting better and it's showing. We got a point the other night at home. If we just keep going I know bounces will start going our way and we'll get wins."

The win wearing those jerseys may have had some special significance for Brockman who is from Humboldt and coached 17 years for their Broncos.



"There was a lot of people that had suffered this spring," Brockman noted. "The message was answered by our guys tonight. Wear that jersey with pride and play your heart out. Those guys did that. It was pretty emotional, but I thought those jerseys were a small representation of who those jerseys were."

The "Broncos Strong" jerseys were auctioned off and raised thousands of dollars for STARS air ambulance.

Swift Current will be right back in action on home ice tomorrow night against Edmonton. Our broadcast is live on The Eagle 94.1 FM with Robertson Family Group Broncos Hockey at 6:30pm.


(Former Humboldt Broncos Xavier LaBelle and Jacob Wassermann dropped the puck before the game)