By Elizabeth Huber /

It is another battle of East versus West for the Swift Current Broncos going into the 2009 playoff season.

But this year, they are looking the other direction down Highway 1 to the Medicine 
Hat Tigers.

Sitting in fourth place with 42 wins this season, the Broncos are going into playoffs determined to win. It was in the tight race to cinch playoff positioning during the final regular-season games the Broncos managed to find their groove as a team, winning eight of their last 10 games.

To top off the season on a high note, Swift Current defeated its conference rivals, the Regina Pats, in a final home-and-home set, and defeated the Wheat Kings in Brandon.

The Tigers, on the other hand, lost six of their last 10 regular-season games.

The Broncos know they hold a slight statistical advantage over the Tigers, who have a slightly stronger power play (19.7 per cent) compared to the Broncos (19.1 per cent).

But on the flip side of the coin, the Broncos penalty kill is stronger at 28per cent compared to the Tigers (81.6 per cent).

The Tigers’ leading scorer, Tyler Ennis, entered playoffs with 85 points and the Broncos’ leading scorer Keegan Dansereau has 81 points.

Mind you, the 20-year-old Dansereau never scored six goals in one game this season and goaltender Travis Yonkman considers Ennis to be an “offensive threat every time he touches the puck.”

Knowing that from now on any game could be their last in the WHL, the Broncos’ 20-year-olds, Dansereau, Yonkman and Spencer McAvoy, whose future careers or life direction are all uncertain, have everything to play for and nothing to lose.

When Dansereau left the Calgary Hitmen early in the 2007-08 season it was questionable how serious he was about keeping a hockey career.

The move to Swift Current came with an attitude adjustment.

“I was getting in trouble there and being late and they didn’t want that … I came here and I changed my attitude and I think I have done well,” said Dansereau, who demonstrated this year that he is in no way ready to hang up the skates.

“I think the guys realize that I want to go far … everyone wants to go far,” he added.

Playing his entire WHL career in Swift Current, Yonkman has seen the team go through many highs and lows and is going to take each of his final games one at a time.

“You can’t take the highs to high and the lows to low,” said Yonkman.

Looking at the three teams ahead of the Broncos going into playoffs, d-man McAvoy is happy with the fourth place finish going into playoffs.

Brandon was an offensive challenge all season, the Blades surprised a lot of people and as for Calgary, “just thinking about them, they are almost too good,” said McAvoy.

Given more power play opportunities this season, he more than quadrupled his number of points compared to last year.

“With the younger team, Dean (Chynoweth, head coach and general manager) has given me more of an opportunity on the power play and getting me to play more,” he said.

He also attributed his stronger offensive performance to having more confidence in himself as a player.