Wow. Another great game for Swift Current fans as the Seattle Thunderbirds and Broncos made their only meeting of the season count last night.
Travis Yonkman put up his 2nd straight spectacular performance in goal as he made 36 saves plus five more stops in the shootout as the Broncos skated to a 2-1 win over the T-Birds.
For Yonkman, his performance comes 48 hours after his best game ever as a Bronco - a 49 save effort in Calgary to defeat the Hitmen 3-2 in overtime.
He is rolling, let's see if the Broncos keep going back to him this weekend for three games in three nights in Moose Jaw, Brandon and then back home to host Calgary Sunday.
How 'bout the kids last night? A good game from the 4th line of Gervais/Tassone/Dowling plus some solid help from 15 year-old Cody Eakin playing in his first ever WHL game. Defenseman David Greyeyes also made his Broncos debut. He saw limited ice-time but did his job when he was out there. I'm happy to say that all of these players were highly touted on the Keen's Korner Top 10 prospects post awhile back.
Jeremy Schenderling was our best forward. Why does this guy get such a hard time from some fans? He works his butt off every game and has upped his game this season. The points may not say so but, he has really elevated his work ethic the last couple months. He scored the only goal in regulation for the Broncos and had the best chance in overtime before Derek Yeomans stopped his breakaway attempt in sudden-death.
The Broncos have now won seven of their last 8 at the Civic Center and have entertained the fans big time lately. Just look at some of the home games lately - a 9-0 win over rival Regina, a big 5-2 over the Tigers on December 30th, and a last second goal to force OT with Lethbridge December 13th which led to a shootout win.
Speaking of shootouts, what is up with Seattle? Last night's shootout loss was their 11th of the season. They are an unbelievable 0-11 in shootouts this season. They should just start heading to the room after OT. At what point does this come almost comical from a T-Birds perspective. You have to do a lot of things wrong to lose 11 straight shootouts.
Derek Yeomans and Bud Holloway really impressed me on their squad. Scott Jackson, one of the leagues top d-men had a rough night out there. It was a game he will rather forget I'm sure.
And finally for all the Bronco fans who heard the Calgary broadcast, I do apologize for seemingly packing it in a bit early in that one. About 30 people have given me the gears for almost writing off the Broncos when they were down 2-0 late in the third period before the miraculous comeback win. Some even asked if the Broncos had brought pack the pigeon to the Civic Center, haha. Great idea.
So what did you think of the game last night? Let's hear it!
Regards,
Jon
12 comments:
It was awesome. The rookies played well and were on the ice most of the third period. Yonks made some big saves.
Great game for the young guys. How about Dowling and Eakin putting the bodies on the line not afraid of forechecking and Eakin standing in front of the net. There are some older and bigger guys not willing to do that. They really impressed me. And Greyeyes yeah is only saw limited ice time but when he was out there he did not look out of place. He has got some size for only being 15. Next year is going to be tough for some Vets making this team. These young guys will definetly be pushing for spots. Yonkman in a shoot is awesome. Talk about getting in the shooters face.
Great game!! I was really impressed with how Eakin did for his first ever whl game. Wasn't scared to go in the corners and along the boards, dodged a few big checks. Dowling was excellent also. Future is looking pretty good. On another note we should all relate to Seattle's shoot out record, the broncos record last year wasn't so great either.
Great game...Travis Yonkman in that shootout, looked like Marty Turco, Jon. That stick save on Boyer was the EXACT same thing that Marty Turco did in the shootout on Marcus Naslund a few weeks ago in Vancouver.
Looks good, and if Travis is going to be like Marty in shootouts, Jon we all, and you and I especially, know what Turco's record in shootouts is. Travis last night, played the exact same style. Deeked out dead, and all of a sudden....BOOM!! Out comes a stick out of nowhere. Awesome performance. LET'S GO SWIFTY!!
Sorry...forgot something.
No Jon, Tim Horton's isn't more important than you....I just had to go to Tim's to meet with a friend. The plan was to go there with Levi, but all the guys were so tired, they almost fell over, so I said, "Levi, go hit the hay." Anyway, sorry for not coming up there in the booth.
I liked the ole' "Alex Ovechkin arm pump you did Jon, when Smith scvored to end it. You're the only announcer I've seen that almost jumps the booth when your team scores.....and it's cool man! Keep it up! SCOOOOOOOooooaaaaaaaarrrres!!!! ZACK SMITH HAS ENDED IT EVEYBODY....YES!!!!
Keep it up Jonny! CYA Sunday.
Great game by the young guys & Yonks.I did think Claffey played his worst game as a Bronco. Jon i do believe for us to make a run in the second half our vets do have to pick it up. I thought Rakos was awful last night.Jon did you see Dean lose it on Rakos last night?I could hear him screaming at him in sec J.Anyways Jon i think your Blog is awesome & i look forward towards your post game comments.Keep up the great work.
Behmer, I didn't see Dean giving it to Danny but I agree Raks had an off night for us. He needs to be better as a 19 year-old. I did see Deano give it to referee Hricuik when he called the hooking penalty on McAvoy. "That's a horse #$@! call" Is what I heard clear as a day on my side. I like when he gets on the officials, it levels the playing field a little.
Keene you're as bad as the fans though. Schenderling has to score 3 goals in order to get a star from you - 3 points isn't enough nor is being "our best forward" and only goal scorer. Your right he has stepped up his game but still doesn't get the credit due!
Hey, Ryan and I do our best with the three stars. Often we pick them during the play by play through hand signals and head nods because we're tied up with our broadcast. People need to rememeber it's the "3 stars" not the "5 stars" Did Schendo deserve a star last night? Absolutely. But if we didn't recognize the efforts of the 16 year old Dowling I'm thinking we would have been lynched by the fans. Do you take one away from Yeomans? Not a chance. Maybe you thought Yonks shouldn't have been a star after a spectacular 36 save performance and five stops in the shootout? Explain? And try using a name rather than "anonymous" if you want to take shots. I put my name to everything, even the three stars.
Keener, tsk tsk tsk. You can't get all pissy when you open yourself up to a blog page. Gotta take the good (fan club president Ernie) with the bad (anonymous, who may even be some of your friends, but you didn't hear that from me). Good too see you are getting a good response. I didn't know that many people in Speedy Creek could spell without using the big red pencils.
Look at that, Patty is back. How was your trip down south? Good thing you were in another country for that 9-0 Bronco win over the Pats. Yikes. So who's to blame, Sandercock or Moler??
It was like the Cowboys loss, if I didn't see it then it didn't happen!
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