You knew it had to happen sometime, that the Flin Flon Bombers were eventually going to lose a hockey game.
It happened this past Friday when the Bombers made their way to Kindersley to play a desperate Klippers team trying to hang on to a playoff spot.
Flin Flon were unbeaten in their previous 16 games and hadn’t lost in regulation since dropping a game in North Battleford on December the 12th.
Friday night the Bombers started slow and didn’t seem to find their legs til the second period, but it wasn’t their night as they dropped a 4 to 1 decision against a very determined Klipper team who played one of their most complete games of the season.
Jared Miskiw was the only Bomber to find the back of the net on Friday when he swooped in on a nice pass from Xavier Fauchon , and fired a puck over Brett O’Hallorin’s right shoulder for a picture perfect goal. This was the only puck that got past O’Hallorin who was rock solid and ended up with 32 saves on 33 shots.
Kindersley got their goals from Rylan Wieler, Luke Ridgway, Bryson Aikens and Russ Demo.
Charlie Tritt got the start for the Bombers and suffered his first regulation loss since coming over in the trade from Humboldt , but played well making 20 saves on 23 shots. Among his big saves was stopping a 2 on 0 midway through the second period.
Despite the loss the Bombers had their chances, but I think Kindersley was the hungrier team and did a lot of the little things well including blocking a lot of shots. The game was also very slow with a lot of whistles and there wasn’t much flow.
Flin Flon would get a chance for redemption on Saturday and it was a completely different game which opened up quite a bit and Flin Flon was able to utilize their speed and were moving the puck very well.
After a scoreless opening period, Kindersley would once again open up the scoring. Pryce Thiessen was able to jump on a rebound in front of the Bomber net and capitalize on an early Klipper powerplay.
Charlie Tritt would once again get the start and he and the Bombers shut the door the rest of the way, with Flin Flon scoring four straight to win the rematch 4 to 1.
Brett O’Hallorin was once again standing on his head and I Wasn’t sure the Bombers were going to be able to get a puck past him the way he was playing.
Nash Holmes had other ideas and picked a good time to get his first ever SJHL goal, when he scored from an awkward angle and fooled O’Hallorin with a shot from the right corner.
This sparked the Bombers and they started to take over the game. The game winner was scored late in the second period when local product Wyatt Stinton scored a beautiful powerplay goal from the slot, going low blocker on O’Hallorin for his 13th of the season.
With Flin Flon leading 2 to 1 heading into the final period, the Bombers got a huge break when Jack Martin intercepted a pass just inside the Kindersley blue line and went in and beat O’Hallorin short handed for a 3 to 1 lead.
This changed the whole complexion of the game as Flin Flon took complete control and Kindersley came unhinged and took a ton of undisciplined penalties.
It all began with the Klippers Cobe Perlinger slashing the Bombers Joey Lies in the face with one of the most vicious incidents I have witnessed in many years. There was no penalty called and Lies left the ice right away to get medical attention in the dressing room before heading to the hospital. Lies was to see a doctor in Saskatoon before heading back to Flin Flon early in the week.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of the Klipper antics and they would take 6 straight penalties and were down two men for 7 straight minutes. The good thing for them was their goalie Brett O’Hallorin was on his game and he kept the Bombers at bay and didn’t give up a single goal on the 7 minute powerplay. Flin Flon ended up 1 for 9 while Kindersley was 1 for 4.
Flin Flon was missing a number of their offensive weapons including Lies who left after that horrible slash, Stinton also left the game after a elbow high to the head. The Bombers also didn’t have Connor Miller, Ryder Mucha, Maverick Deslisle, Ryder Knutson and Kyle Marsden who were all out due to injury but found a way to get it done.
The Bombers would add one more goal late as Reid Arberry would pick up his 20th of the year with an empty netter, with just over a minute remaining for the 4 to 1 win.
Head Coach and GM, Mike Reagan was fired up after the game.” I am proud of the guys for fighting through a lot of BS that was just uncalled for. We know teams want to play us tough and physical, but there is no room for that in the game. I am pretty disappointed as I had some words for the Kindersley bench especially for the high hits. Joey Lies takes a baseball swing to the face and there is no call, and it sure is frustrating that neither of the officials made the call and saw anything. We will be speaking to the league directly and going from there. I am very happy with how our guys stuck up for each other, and there comes a point when enough is enough.”
The good news is that Flin Flon was able to respond after the loss and now sit first overall at 34-10-1-1, 70 points which is 5 up on the second place Battleford Stars and 8 points up on the third place Yorkton Terriers.
Kindersley continues to find themselves in quite the battle for a playoff spot and right now sit in 7th spot with 49 points, which is only two points up on Melville and Humboldt. Melfort has all of a sudden moved to within 3 points of Kindersley and are red hot at 7-2-1 in their last ten.
It is going to be very interesting to see how it all shakes down here the last few weeks of the season. The Bombers will host another desperate team this weekend as the Melville Millionaires who are clinging on to the last playoff spot, make their way to the Whitney Forum Friday and Saturday.
The two teams split the first two meetings in Melville with the Bombers winning the last game 3 to 0 back on January the 31st. Puck drop Friday and Saturday is 7:30pm.
