The Flin Flon Bombers have wrapped up the pre-season with 4 straight wins including a 5-3 victory against their Northern neighbors the OCN Blizzard on Friday.
OCN came in with more of a veteran presence than they had on Tuesday and put up a decent effort despite being outshot 61-18.
The Blizzard opened up the scoring on their first shot of the game when veteran Brady Keeper fired a snap shot past Bomber net minder Zac Robidoux. Keeper has just come back from a brief stint in the USHL and will certainly be one of the most dominant d-men in the MJHL.
Nice to see this kid from Northen Manitoba commit to a US scholorship for next season and he is one of the best players from the North I have seen in years. He is special and will be a good cornerstone for the Blizzard to build around this season.
Rest of the scoring summary looked like this. Mason Etter answered Keeper's goal with a blast from the point that got through lots of traffic to tie the game at 1 at 7:22. Brayden Dale would restore the Blizzard lead when he was left alone in front of the Bomber net and tapped in a pass from Keeper to put OCN up 2-1 after 1 despite only registering 3 shots on goal.
Flin Flon had the only 2 goals of the second period. Smooth skating Joseph Leonidas picked up a rebound and put home his first of the pre season to tie the game at 2 mid way through the second. Nick Shumlanski gave the Bombers their first lead when he took a stretch pass from Thomas and went in to beat Allan Kholi and put Flin Flon up 3-2 after 2.
OCN never quit fighting and tied the game on an unassisted goal from Campbell 13 minutes into the final period.
That goal lit a spark under the Bombers and new comer Shawn Weber who just came over in a trade with Fort Mac scored the game winner just 40 seconds later, before Rylee Zimmer scored an insurance goal with just over 5 minutes remaining in the game to make the final 5-3.
A couple big things that jumped out at me were how the Bombers were able to move the puck around very effectively and it looked like everyone on the ice was able to get involved. They have moved the puck around very well in all three games I watched in the pre season. I missed the all rooikie game in Nipawin.
The Bombers did have a tough time burying in this game and a lot of credit has to go the OCN goalies who stopped 56 out of 61 Bomber shots and it looked like they might help their team steal this one.
The tandem of Kholi and Taylor both looked great and are challenging for a spot on the Blizzard roster this season. Flin Flon didn't have an answer for them til midway through the second.
OCN spent a lot of time in the penalty box and played almost the entire second period short handed. Final powerplays ended with the Bombers going 1 for 10, including a couple 5 on 3's. The two young OCN goalies were solid and kept them in the game when the Bombers had a chance to bust it open.
The Blizzard finished up 0 for 3 including one 5 on 3. Final shots were 61-18 in favour of the Bombers.
Flin Flon will now trim their roster and get ready for the SJHL regular season and their home opener on Friday against Nipawin at 7:30. This will also be our first broadcast of the season, and we will be on the air with player introductions at 7:10.
OCN will finish the pre season with a pair of games against Swan Valley before opening the regular season Sept 24th at home against Dauphin.
