Flin Flon Bombers Two Wins Away From League Title
Posted Less Than An Hour Ago by Rob Hart
It was a dominating weekend for the Flin Flon Bombers who squared off with the Yorkton Terriers at the Whitney Forum to kick off the Canterra Seeds Cup Final.
Both teams came off a gruelling 7 game series in the SJHL Semi Final with not a lot of rest entering game one on Friday night.
Flin Flon took advantage of the loud boisterous crowd and a red hot powerplay to take game one by a score of 7 to 3.
It took just over four minutes for the Bombers to find the back of the net as Landon Alexander jumped on a rebound in front of the Yorkton net to make it 1 to 0 and Flin Flon never looked back.
Nathan Lalumiere and Wyatt Stinton would also score in the first period with Yorkton getting a powerplay goal from Gabriel Courchesne to cut the deficit to 3 to 1.
It looked like the Bombers were going to run away with it once Wyatt Stinton scored his second of the game at the midway point of the second period, as the Bombers jumped out to a 4 to 1 lead.
The two teams got into a run and gun and Yorkton took advantage of a couple Bomber miscues and scored two goals 30 seconds apart courtesy of the top SJHL Defenseman Of The Year Thomas Ries and Austin Horbachewski
That would quiet the crowd as the Terriers were all of a sudden within one goal at 4 to 3. Everyone knows how explosive their offense is and this is the type of game they like to play in.
Unfortunately for Yorkton, penalties would cost them and Flin Flon’s Rhett Ewen would bang home a rebound on the powerplay and the Bombers would take a 5 to 3 lead after two periods.
Flin Flon kept coming and scored a couple of goals late courtesy of Connor Miller who picked up his team leading 8th of the playoffs and Braydon Bruce collected his first.
Special teams were one of the big factors with the Bombers going 3 for7 with the extra attacker while Yorkton ended up 1 for 3.
Bomber netminder Charlie Tritt was fantastic once again making 32 saves on 35 shots. Flin Flon chased Yorkton starter Callum Craig with 4 goals on 25 shots, then got three past backup Alexandro Montoya on 18 shots.
It was a great way to start the finals to the delight of over 1100 fans who were in attendance.
The rematch went down Saturday and you knew Yorkton would make some changes and be better.
They tightened up defensively, but so did Flin Flon and they blanked the Terriers 3 to 0 to take a 2-0 series lead.
The Bombers would only need one goal to win game two and one of their top point producers in the playoffs Reid Arberry jumped on a juicy rebound late in the first period for his 4th of the playoffs.
It was a very timely goal that sent the Bombers to the dressing room with a 1 to 0 lead after one, and the very large home town crowd let them know how much they appreciated the team’s effort.
Maverick Deslisle scored the prettiest goal of the game when he took advantage of a beautiful pass from behind the Yorkton net from Jack Martin.
Martin feathered the pass out front and Deslisle was able to tap it past Yorkton goalie Callum Creig, past his left arm right up against the post to make the score 2-0 for Flin Flon.
I don’t know how Deslisle was able to sneak it past Creig, but it was a very big goal for the only offense in the second period. Flin Flon added one more goal in the third when Rhett Ewen scored his 6th of the playoffs in a goal line scramble standing in front of the Terrier net.
There is video review in the playoffs and the Yorkton bench thought that the play may have been offside, but they checked the video and it was ruled a good goal.
Charlie Tritt picked up his third shutout of the playoffs for the Bombers and stopped all 19 shots fired in his direction. Tritt wasn’t overly busy but was rock solid when he needed to be.
Yorkton went back with Callum Creig between the pipes and it was a good that they did, as he made a number of big saves to keep the Terriers in it and would up with 34 saves on 37 shots.
Flin Flon took the second game 3 to 0 and out scored the Terriers 10 to 3 in the two games to jump out to a 2 to 0 lead in the Canterra Seeds Cup Final.
The Bombers put on a defensive gem and got back to playing the way they have for the entire playoffs.
Head Coach and GM Mike Reagan commented about the big win after Saturday’s game. “ We talked about Bomber Hockey and getting back to doing what we do best. We knew Yorkton would play better and we did a great job shutting them down. I liked our game as we had good pushes and we accomplished the way we wanted to play. It is playoff hockey and we keep finding ways to win games especially with all the injuries that we have. Charlie was great again and he continues to do his job, and you need your goalie to come up with big saves especially at this time of the season.”
The Bombers are now only two wins away from their first league title in 33 years and are in a good position heading to Yorkton and the Westland Arena for games three and four on Wednesday and Thursday.
It sounds like both those games are sold out and there should be well more than two thousand people in attendance for both those games. I am sure there will be a strong contingent of Bomber fans in attendance as well.
This is Flin Flon’s fourth trip to the finals in the last five years but you really get the sense that this time it may be different and they may finally get over the hump.
There seems to be a strong urgency and there is a different player rising to the occasion every night, with the entire Bomber nation behind them from not only Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan but from all over the world.
Look forward to seeing all the Bomber fans in Yorkton Wednesday and Thursday night as the Bombers will try to raise that Canterra Seeds Cup with the whole hockey world watching.
