The Flin Flon Bombers welcomed Jaeden Mercier back in the line up last night and the three year veteran was the difference as the Bombers pulled out a 3 to 2 win in Nipawin.
With the game tied at 2 entering the third, the Bombers were able to convert a powerplay just 44 seconds into the final frame.
Mercier took a pass from Rylan Thiessen and snapped a puck through the legs of Hawk goaltender Chase Hamm for the eventual game winner.
Mercier was in the line-up for the first time since October and didn't look out of place.
It was a strange game with the Bombers dominating the first period out shooting the Hawks 13 to 7. Nipawin didn't register a shot til the 15 minute mark and heard it from the few fans who decided to attend last night's game.
The Bombers did score twice in the first on goals from Cole Vardy (8) and Zac Smith his 12th.
Nipawin looked very disinterested and didn't compete very hard in the opening period and were lucky the deficit was only 2.
Saying that, they came out hard in the second and got rewarded with a couple of powerplay goals from Kye Whillans and Rylan Lefebvre.
The Bombers got back on track and dominated the third and out shot the Hawks 10 to 2 and got the eventual winner from Mercier.
It wasn't the prettiest of games but the Bombers got the two points and picked up their first win of 2022 to improve to 22-10-0-1.
Drew Kuzma made his Bomber debut last night as the club finalized the deal with the Weyburn Red Wings just as the bus rolled into Nipawin. He looked good getting to the dirty areas and doesn't mind playing physical at all and is thrilled to be a Bomber.
Flin Flon now sits 4 points behind Melfort for the division lead and does have 3 games in hand.
Unfortunately, the head to head match-ups between the two clubs this weekend have been postponed due to Covid. So, no game here Friday and the Bombers will make up one of their games against Laronge on Saturday.
We will have Saturday's game from Laronge here on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com beginning with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:15.
No word on when the games with Melfort will be made up, but we are expecting a decision soon.
