The Swift Current Broncos’ three-game winning streak came to an end in a 4-1 loss to the host Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday.
The Broncos out-shot the Tigers 37-27 but Marek Langhamer made 36 saves in his seventh win of the season for Medicine Hat.
Landon Bow allowed three goals on 15 shots to fall to 3-2-1-0 for Swift Current before being replaced by Steven Myland, who stopped all 11 shots he faced over 25:47.
Trevor Cox and Miles Koules scored goals 2:11 apart to put the Tigers ahead 2-0 after one period. Boston Leier scored a powerplay goal in the second period to make it 3-0 after two periods.
Coda Gordon scored the lone Broncos goal in the third period, his 12th of the season, before Dylan Bredo ended things with an empty net goal for the Tigers.
Swift Current dropped to 17-18-3-2 and remain seventh in the Eastern Conference, while Medicine Hat improved to 16-19-2-0 in the win.
The Broncos will be back at home New Years Day for a matinee meeting with the Lethbridge Hurricanes beginning at 2 p.m. at the Credit Union iplex.
Bronco Bits: The Broncos were without injured veteran forwards Levi Bews Josh Derko, Chance Lund, Brent Benson, and Shea Howorko. Number one goaltender Eetu Laurikainen and rookie defenseman Brycen Martin were also out of the line-up due to international duty at the World Junior Championships and the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge respectively. Stewart Valley’s Jordan Wittman, 16, made his season debut for the Broncos as the team dealt with injuries up front. Wittman was the Broncos third round pick in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft and has 28 points in 26 games with the Swift Current Legionnaires of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League. The 6’0’’, 189-pound right wing appeared in two games for the Broncos last season. Adam Lowry’s WHL leading eight-game goal scoring streak and 13-game point streak came to an end in the loss. The Winnipeg Jets prospect had not been held off the scoresheet since Nov. 20, a stretch that included 24 points over 13 games.
