Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Leppard bites Broncos

The Prince George Cougars were having trouble bucking the Swift Current Broncos off their backs Sunday afternoon. So they turned loose their Leppard to get the job done.

The Prince George Cougars were having trouble bucking the Swift Current Broncos off their backs Sunday afternoon.
So they turned loose their Leppard to get the job done.
Jackson Leppard, who went nine games without a goal since returning from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s training camp, snapped a 1-1 deadlock with his second goal of the season, providing the Cougars what they needed to fortify a 3-1 victory.
“I think for 20 minutes of the game we kind of under-estimated them,” said Leppard, who also had two assists Sunday. “They caught us off guard and we stuck with it. It was a close game and we had some good bounces and were fortunate to bury a few in the end there.”
The Cougars began the third period working with a two-man advantage but failed to generate anything close to a good scoring chance in 98 seconds of 5-on-3 time. Their power play has been a source of misery all season and they started the game on a 3-for-42 clip, worst in the WHL.
Leppard struck not long after the two penalties expired when he picked up a loose puck in the high slot and let go a wristshot that went through the legs of goalie Joel Hofer.
Josh Curtis made it a 3-1 game, scoring the Cougars’ fourth power-play goal of the season. Leppard took the shot and Curtis rushed the net to jam in the puck left uncovered in the crease.
“We haven’t been too great on the power play and it was good to get one on the board,” said Leppard, who collected his first goal of the season last Sunday in Cranbrook. “Back-to-back goals, they’re going to start flowing in now. I just had to get that one out of the way, I think.”
The win allowed the Cougars (5-5-0-1, third in B.C. Division) to climb back to the .500 mark for the first time all season. The Broncos (1-11-0-0) are last overall in the WHL.
In the teams’ only regular-season meeting, both goalies played exceptionally well. Hofer made 37 saves while Taylor Gauthier made 30 stops for the Cougars.
The Cougars scored first at even strength, 6:42 into the game. Ethan Browne was standing just off the post when he rapped in the rebound of Austin Crossley’s point shot. Swift Current evened the count a few minutes later, taking advantage of its first power play of the game with Mike MacLean off for kneeing. Tanner Nagel took a pass from linemate Alec Zawatsky and quickly fired off a high backhander that found the corner behind Gauthier. It was the fifth shot of the power play for the Broncos.
Playing their fourth game in six days in their B.C. Division tour, the visitors outshot the well-rested Cougars 14-11 in the opening frame and held them to only a couple good scoring chances and were even more dominant in a scoreless second period.
“It was kind of a tough one for us – we couldn’t get into it off the bat, but as soon as we hit the third we came out as hard as we could and played a really good third period,” said Crossley.
“(Leppard) came back with one of the better games of the year. He had a good road trip too and got the monkey off his back against Kootenay and he’s doing well. We struggled for a couple games but I’m happy with the team. We’re coming together now and it’s looking good for the year.”
The Broncos have just seven players left from last year’s WHL championship team and head coach and general manager Dean Brockman knows he will have to be patient with his troops.
“That was probably our best game of the year for two periods and then the third we kind of let it get away on us,” said Brockman. “They amped it up and we didn’t and we’ve certainly got to build in the things we did well. There’s a lot of guys learning how to be an everyday player and we just have to stay with it, day by day.”
Broncos centre Ethan O’Rourke, in his first game back in Prince George since the Cougars traded him last season to Everett for Browne, came close to scoring his first of the season on a left-wing rush late in the first period.
The Broncos have been on the road since they won in a shootout in Brandon Oct. 13 and have struggled ever since with four straight losses. O’Rourke knows they came close to ending that winless streak Sunday.
“It’s obviously been a tough start so far but our first two periods tonight was probably the best we’ve played.”
The Cougars host the Tri-City Americans tonight. The puck drops at 7.