The Swift Current Broncos dropped a tight 3–2 decision to the Calgary Hitmen on Wednesday night at the InnovationPlex in their final meeting of the season.
Calgary opened the scoring early in the first period when Kale Dach buried a rebound just 1:17 into the game. The Broncos settled in and played a strong defensive period the rest of the way, but the Hitmen struck again late when Ethan Moore finished a two-on-one rush at 18:17 to make it 2–0 after one.
Swift Current responded quickly in the second period. Just 12 seconds in, Trae Wilke scored his 19th of the season on the power play, finishing a slick passing play from Anthony Wilson right off a Hudson Darby faceoff win. The rest of the period featured tight checking at both ends as neither team could find another breakthrough.
Early in the third, the Hitmen capitalized on a five-minute major power play when Caine Wilke scored on a rebound at 1:19, despite an outstanding initial save by Archer Cooke, giving Calgary the eventual game-winning goal. The Broncos answered midway through the period as Trae Wilke struck again on the power play at 6:34, with assists from Hudson Darby and Marek Ročák to pull Swift Current within one.
The Broncos continued to push late in the game and pulled the goaltender in the final minutes, but were unable to find the equalizer.
Calgary finished with a 25–19 edge in shots. Swift Current went 2-for-4 on the power play while Calgary went 1-for-5. The Broncos also held a slight edge in the faceoff circle, winning 31 of 60 draws. Archer Cooke turned aside 22 of 25 shots in another strong performance in goal.
With the loss, the Broncos fall to 13-41-4-3 on the season. They return to action Friday, March 6 at the InnovationPlex against the Wheat City Walleye in Game 1 of the Fishing Derby series.