The Flin Flon Bombers went from playing one of their best games to laying an egg in their two game road trip Tuesday and Wednesday.
Flin Flon ended Battleford's 15 game unbeaten streak with a 2-0 win on Tuesday. Ottawa Ontario's Simon Hofley stopped all 36 shots in his direction for his second career SJHL shut out.
Both Bomber goals came in the first period by defensemen Cole Nichols and Simon Desrosier. It was Nichol's first ever SJHL goal, and he told me he was scared it would never come. I don't know if you can play a perfect game, but the Bombers were darn close.
They kept the Battleford chances to a minimum, finished their checks and created lots of quality chances with their speed. It was a real pleasure to call on the radio as the Bombers moved to within 2 points of division rival Nipawin for the final playoff spot.
Flin Flon made their way to Laronge to battle the Ice Wolves at the Mel Hegland Uniplex on Wednesday, fresh offf beating Laronge in their building 4-3 Saturday. It was the Bombers first win this season when trailing after two periods. Matter of fact Flin Flon had beat Laronge three out of four games this year including both meetings at the Mel.
A tough start in this one with the Ice Wolves scoring just 36 seconds into the game. Jared Iron took a pass off the faceoff and beat Hofley low blocker side for a quick 1-0 lead.
The Bombers answered with a late first period goal by Parker Evans Campbell, his 8th on a long slap shot just inside the Laronge blue line to tie the game with only 20 seconds left in the first period.
Flin Flon would enjoy their only lead of the game when Dalton Menke would score his 8th of the season 28 seconds into the second period. Seamus Maguire the SJ rookie of the week made a great pass from behind the Laronge net to set Menke up.
It was all Ice Wolves after that point as they would score five unanswered goals in the second to take a 6-2 lead into the third. Simon Desrosiers would score his third of the year and second in as many nights to get the Bombers a little closer at 6-3 on the power play early in the period.
Flin Flon then ran into penalty trouble later in the third and played three on five for almost a full seven minutes, where Laronge were able to score a couple more with the extra attacker to win the game 8-3.
The big difference in this game, just too many defensive turn overs. Every time the Bombers made a mistake it wound up in the back of their net. Don't let Laronge's record fool you, they have some very dangerous weapons including Dalton Siwak, who is a four year veteran of the WHL. Siwak was a force all night for the Wolves and has been their best player since coming over from Dauphin of the MJHL Jan the 10th for Hudson Morrison.
The Bombers still lead the Ice Wolves by one point for third in the Sherwood Division with a record of: 20-28-0-2. Laronge does have a game in hand.
Flin Flon will once again be in a must win situation, when they host Nipawin at the Whitney Forum Saturday. The Hawks lead the Bombers by two points for the final playoff spot. That could change with Nipawin hosting Melfort Friday. This continues to be a fierce rivalry, and who could forget the great series between these two teams last spring. The Bombers won it in six, and no doubt this is still fresh on the minds of the Hawks.
The Bombers have six games remaing, here is the break down:
Sat Feb the 16th VS Nipawin
Tues Feb the 18th AT Nipawin
Sat Feb the 22nd VS Melfort
Fri Feb the 28th VS Yorkton
Sat March the 1st VS Laronge
Tues March the 4th AT Melfort.
Don't forget to join us for all the action this Saturday from the Whitney Forum with the one and only SJHL Coach's Show at 7:10 and play by play at 7:30 on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.
