Swift Current Bronco Mistelbacher heating up as WHL playoffs approach

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This article was published 18/03/2024 (460 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Luke Mistelbacher appears to have unlocked a new level to his game at just the right time.

The Steinbach-born winger had scored nine goals in his last 10 games as of March 11, doubling his total on the season for the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Swift Current Broncos.

Mistelbacher gave credit to his line-mates, including trade acquisition Conor Geekie, who has scored 37 points since arriving in Swift Current in early 2024.

“I’ve been playing with some good players like Geekie and (Clarke) Caswell, and the puck is just going in,” Mistelbacher said.

“It feels like everything has just been going into the net.”

Before Geekie’s arrival in Swift Current, Mistelbacher had scored only 19 points in 45 games. Since Jan. 9, he has 24 points in 21 games.

“(I’ve) been just keeping the same game-day routine,” Mistelbacher said when asked how he’s trying to keep his hot streak going.

“Nothing special, just the same thing every day.”

The former Eastman Select scored 16 points in 56 games in the WHL last season. Mistelbacher noted he wasn’t stressing about point-totals this season, even as he got off to a pedestrian start.

“It just came to me,” he said.

“Everything just started going in, and I started playing a lot better. I didn’t feel any pressure at the start of the year.”

The 2005-born Mistelbacher said he has loved playing major junior, thanking his billet family for being so welcoming. He was not drafted by a WHL club, but drew Swift Current’s attention with an outstanding start to the 2020 season before COVID-19 shut down the Manitoba U18 AAA league.

“When you first put your skates on, everybody wants to play at the highest level they can,” Mistelbacher said.

“It’s just fun competing with a bunch of solid players, a bunch of very, very talented players.”

Through only five games in 2020, he scored nine points in an Selects jersey. In the 2021/2022 season he scored 48 points in 38 regular season games, while appearing in three contests for Swift Current as a 16-year-old.

Mistelbacher said he now feels caught up in his development after losing out on nearly a full year during the pandemic

“I think we’re all recovering pretty well from it,” he said.

“You don’t really notice when everyone else went through the same thing.”

Mistelbacher has an outside chance at being selected in the NHL draft this year, as he was ranked 210th among North American skaters in the mid-term NHL Central Scouting rankings released Jan. 12.

“At the start of the year, I had pretty much no hope,” he said, laughing.

“But in the last little bit (I’ve gotten) a couple emails. I don’t have high hopes at all. If I stay hot, who knows what can happen, especially throughout the playoffs.”

Mistelbacher said the Broncos are aiming high in the post-season, and are hoping to push for top spot in their division in the Eastern Conference before post-season action begins. The team currently sits a point ahead of Medicine Hat, with six games left to play. The two teams will play a home-and-home set this weekend.

Swift Current clinched a playoff spot after defeating Brandon 6-3 March 9. Mistelbacher notched two assists and was named the game’s third star.

“(If) we play our game, we can take anyone on,” Mistelbacher said.

St Adolphe’s Owen Pickering also plays for the Broncos. The Pittsburgh Penguins first-rounder has notched 38 points as a d-man so far this season.