Broncos Shoot For Season High Winning Streak

The Swift Current Broncos have been here before... three other times to be exact.

The hockey club has won three straight games for the fourth time this season. Tomorrow night they will take a crack at their 4th straight "W" which would their longest such streak of the season.

In order to do that they will have to go in to Saskatoon and beat the Blades. Not an easy task the way Saskatoon is playing lately. The Blades fought hard in Moose Jaw and Regina over the weekend only to lose in either a shootout or overtime. Not playoff bound, the Blades haven't given up one bit and their compete level seems to be as strong as ever.

The Broncos are 2-0-0-1 against the Blades this season. They are set to get awfully familiar with Lorne Molleken's crew over the next week. The teams meet four times in a span of eight days. The Broncos only visit to Saskatoon led to a 4-3 shootout loss. The Broncos were seemingly in control of the game until two third period goals sent the game into extra time.

It's a 7:05pm face-off tomorrow night from the Credit Union I-plex.

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The Broncos have picked up the knack of being streak breakers lately. A win in Moose Jaw last week ended the Warriors seven game home winning streak. Friday's win over Kelowna ended a five-game winning streak and Saturday's victory against Regina stopped their seven gamer. In fact the Pats have three losses in their last 12 games. All three have been courtesy the Broncos. These teams are done the season series. Safe to say the Pats are ok with that.

"We talked about getting in their heads...we want teams to be scared to play us in the playoffs. I'm sure were in their heads right now. We've shown we can go into their building and win some. They've had a lot of trouble coming in here although they've come from behind twice now in the last two games but we're finding ways to win. It was a good win for our team tonight."

-Broncos forward Dale Wiese in our postgame show Saturday night.

When it comes to breaking streaks of teams Broncos Assistant Coach Tim Kehler told us it isn't their motivation.

" I don't know if it's as much ending streaks as it is starting one of our own. Here we are again at three wins in a row for the fourth occasion and will we be able to push through and reach a new plateau in terms of the success that we're able to string together."

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The Three Star selection at the end of games have generated some talk lately. This guy over that guy and such.... I think our track record of picking stars is pretty good and if you go back and see the quarterly winners this season the accolades fit the right players in my opinion. But, I think it's time Ryan and I share the duties a little bit if not relinquish them all together. Not sure if there's any other media member willing. A couple years ago the Booster was picking stars every other game. That didn't last long though and we were again put back in the full time role.

It seems this is the focus of the game for some fans. Forget the result, the three stars didn't include my favorite player and ruined my night! Now I'm going to track down the radio guys in the lobby post-game or at Boston Pizza and have my say.

I'll say it again... some nights I wish it was the five-star selection so we could get more star worthy players in there. It's the three stars and that's the way it is.

We usually take a 30 second commercial with 4-5 minutes to play and quickly get the stars sent over to the other side of the rink to the PA announcer while one of the gamenight staff comes up to collect the info so he can grab the right player as they make their way to the dressing rooms.

So here's an open invitation. A warning. It's a thankless job.

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It was blowout night across the WHL. Calgary blasted Brandon 9-2 while Medicine Hat put up seven goals in a 7-1 win in Edmonton. In Kamloops the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes led 6-0 after the 1st and skated to an 8-1 win.

More weekend thoughts.... the Portland Winterhawks watch continued. They were blanked in Calgary Friday 6-0, shutout in Edmonton 3-0 and managed a last minute goal in Red Deer last night in a 4-1 loss.

The Winterhawks are on pace to challenge the Broncos futile record of 135 goals in a season in the 04/05 campaign. The Winterhawks lone goal in three games now has them on pace to score 133 which would break the dubious mark for the entire CHL.

Windchills to -45 and beyond the next few days in southwest Saskatchewan. Stay warm and we will see those diehards Wednesday night when the Broncos host Saskatoon!

Jon