Boston Pizza Game Recap: Broncos Come Up Short Against Red Deer in Overtime
The Swift Current Broncos dropped a 4–3 overtime decision to the Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday night at the InnovationPlex in the first meeting of the season between the two clubs. Despite outshooting Red Deer 33–25, the Broncos couldn’t find a way to secure the extra point as the Rebels struck early in overtime.
Anthony Wilson opened the scoring for Swift Current midway through the first period, taking a feed from Stepan Kuryachenkov and putting a back hander past Rebels goaltender Chase Wutzke at 6:04 to give the Broncos a 1–0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Red Deer responded on the power play in the second period when Ty Coupland buried a shot at 7:00, assisted by Keith McInnis and Beckett Hamilton. Swift Current regained the lead late in the frame as defenceman Peyton Kettles, playing his first game of the season after returning from injury, found the back of the net at 16:46 with assists going to Noah Kosick and Josh McGregor.
The Rebels’ power play continued to click in the third. Jaxon Fuder tied the game at 3:53, and Owen Shadrick gave Red Deer their first lead at 8:15. The Broncos clawed back when Anthony Wilson netted his second of the night at 13:59, set up by Kosick and Kettles, sending the game to overtime.
However, Red Deer needed just over a minute in the extra frame to seal the win. Matthew Gard scored the game-winner at 1:03, assisted by Fuder and McInnis, giving the Rebels a 4–3 victory.
Swift Current outshot Red Deer 33–25 and held a slight edge in offensive pressure for much of the game. The Broncos went 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Rebels capitalized on two of their three opportunities.
Broncos goaltender Aiden Eskit stopped 21 of 25 shots in the loss.
Following the game, Head Coach Dean DeSilva shared his thoughts on his team’s performance:
“We received more than we deserved tonight. We played well at times but there was little energy or pace to our game. We played on our heels not to lose rather than playing on our toes to win. Players must understand it is a difficult league and you must play with pace and passion every game.”
The Broncos (6-3-1-0) will look to bounce back on Friday when they visit the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre.
