NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Swift Current Broncos forward Carlin Dezainde celebrates his hat trick goal in the second period Tuesday of a 5-4 Broncos win in Game 3 of the first-round series with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Swift Current Broncos are a resilient bunch, not ready to go anywhere.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first-round series with the Medicine Hat Tigers, the Broncos responded with a 5-4 Game 3 win Tuesday at home at the InnovationPlex. They’ve shown life all series, playing the Tigers hard in a 4-0 Game 1 loss on March 28 before staying within a solo tally until late in a 6-3 Game 2 loss on March 29.
They completed the response Tuesday, led by 20-year-old forward Carlin Dezainde who potted his first goal of the series, then added two more for the hat trick against the WHL club who first signed him. Dezainde says Tuesday’s effort is a showcase of how they’ve responded all season.
“We’ve had a ton of games like that throughout the year and we’ve talked a lot about the adversity, the ups and the downs in the game and battling through those,” Dezainde said. “It’s all about just sticking with it, especially when they get those early ones. So that was big for us and it’s important for us to know that we can come back.”
Dezainde was un-drafted into the WHL, signing with the Tigers in 2021 before a mid-season three-way trade with the Saskatoon Blades and Prince George Cougars sent him to the B.C. team. He was acquired by the Broncos in October, 2024 and has been a leader with Swift Current since according to the bench boss.
“He’s obviously been a real important 20-year-old for us when we acquired him right from the start of the season,” head coach Taras McEwen said. “His compete, he’s a real intense individual and it rubs off, he’s very competitive and wants to win. He’s helped us in a lot of different areas, pushing guys and obviously with his production all year.
“If you go back to the Medicine Hat games, he played OK. He had the matchup of (Gavin) McKenna, so it didn’t start very well for those guys and we made a change to try and play him against (Kadon) McCann’s on a little bit and that’s when he went off.”
The Calgary product says he just played his game, finding success as he haas throughout his five years in the WHL.
“I just stuck to my strengths, I know what makes me a good player and that’s being hard and moving my feet,” Dezainde said. “The goals will come and tonight they did. So it was good for the team and obviously good for myself, a little bit of a confidence boost, but I’m going to use that and bring it into the rest of the series.”
The Broncos’ win Tuesday set them up Wednesday with a chance to tie the best-of-seven series that will head back to Medicine Hat on Friday for Game 5. If the Broncos win Wednesday or follow up a loss with a win Friday, the series turns back to Swift Current and the feisty crowd at the I-Plex.
It’s the first playoffs for Dezainde in Swift Current who has heard all season about the atmosphere in the 2,800 seat arena come playoff time. He says it exceeded expectations.
“Right from puck drop the fans were invested,” Dezainde said. “I’ve been hearing so much about how great the fans are during playoffs and they really came to show that. Their energy helped us a ton and we really were able to feed off that.”
