There seems to be no stopping the Flin Flon Bombers who rolled to a convincing 8 to 0 win over the Nipawin Hawks on Friday. It was Hockey Night In The North and the Whitney Forum was jam packed with over 1500 fans in attendance.
The game was basicilly over in the first 10 minutes as the Bombers jumped out to a quick 4 to 0 lead.
Carter Anderson continued his fine play with a pair of goals to give him 31 on the season, which is second overall only to team mate Justin Lies. He also scored another powerplay goal to give him a whopping 19 which is the most in the league.
Riley Niven, who has been playing some good hockey got rewared with his first two in a Bomber uniform and finally got the monkey off his back with a nice offensive burst early in the game.
I thought Niven was one of the best Bombers on the ice in the Battleford series and he was able to carry that over in the game against the Hawks on Friday. It looks like he is playing with a lot more confidence.
Matt Egan was back in the lineup for the first time in 2024 after serving his 6 game suspension and coming off successful surgery and was able to find the back of the net twice.
With lots of family and friend's in attendance, Egan had a game to remember and was a big spark for the entire team on Friday and will be a big inspiration down the stretch. This young man has battled a ton of obstacles but never gives up and will be an important piece down the stretch to the post season.
The other two goals came from Anthony Piccininno and Tyson Smith who collected his first of the year after coming over from Selkirk of the MJHL, on January the 10th.
Kenny Marquart was good when he had to be and made 29 saves for his league leading fourth shutout of the year.
Damon Cunningham started for Nipawin and played well despite giving up 6 goals on 32 shots. He was hung out to dry several times and made some highlight reel saves in a losing cause.
AP, Jaidyn Shaw came in relief and stopped 4 of 6 shots.
Flin Flon who are the only team to officially clinch a playoff spot are now 35-2-2 and lead the second place Stars by 6 points with four games in hand.
Nipawin continues to struggle and the playoffs are in jeopardy with 7 straight losses and they sit 9th overall with 36 points, one point behind Weyburn for the final playoff spot. The Wings do have two games in hand.
It is a big week for the Maroon and White Express who embark on a 4 game in 5 night road trip starting in Melville on Tuesday. The Mills have beat the Bombers twice this season and they are battling for a playoff position as well.
You can listen to all four games of the trip on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com including Wednesday from Notre Dame, Friday in Weyburn and Saturday in Estevan.
Austin Mattess will make the trip and broadcast all four games. Puck drop in Melville is 7pm on Tuesday and we will be on the air with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 6:45.
