Bomber tale of the tape: Flin Flon faces off with Mustangs in SJHL final

The Flin Flon Bombers will face the Melfort Mustangs in Games 1 and 2 of the SJHL final this weekend at the Whitney Forum. Here's how the two teams stack up.

The Bombers finished 11 points ahead of the Mustangs in the league standings, but the season series between the two teams ended in a dead heat - out of the six games the two teams played, each team won three games, two at home and one on the road. The Bombers took Melfort to overtime in their home opener back in September, giving them a record of 3-2-1-0 in the season series.

Through the playoffs, the Bombers have been dominant, sweeping both the Kindersley Klippers and Battlefords North Stars in quick succession - the first time the Bombers have ever done so in a playoff campaign. The Mustangs eliminated Estevan in five games in the opening round, but went the distance in their second round series with Humboldt, a knock-down, drag-out war that went seven games, four of which required overtime. Ryan Duguay scored the series-clinching goal in Game 7 April 16, giving Melfort a 5-4 win on home ice. The Mustangs will come into the series with just two rest days between their last game and Game 1 - the Bombers will have a whopping 10 days' rest going in.

Melfort's offence so far has run through their top line unit of Aidyn Hutchinson, Duguay and Clay Sleeva. Out of the 48 goals the Mustangs have scored through their 12 games played, the top line has scored 21 of them - 28 if factoring in the contributions of top defender Chase Friedt-Mohr, who recently committed to play next season for the Univ. of Regina Cougars. Outside those top four skaters, no Mustang has scored more than six points this playoffs. Zac Somers, one of the Mustangs' most potent forwards, missed most of the team's second-round series against Humboldt, playing only in Game 1.

The Bombers have seen their offence come from throughout the lineup, with 39 goals in just eight games. Captain Justin Lies has a point in all of the Bombers' playoff games so far and has at least one goal in seven of the eight. Three Bombers - defender Noah Houle and forwards Carter Anderson and Jacob Vockler - have points in seven of eight games, while Alexi Sylvestre has points in all six games he's played so far, missing time to serve a suspension between the team's two series.

The Bombers have not given up more than three goals in a game yet in their playoff run, only giving up three in Game 1 against Battlefords - the other seven games have seen Flin Flon either give up no goals, one goal or two. A big part of that has been the play of SJHL goalie of the year Harmon Laser-Hume, who leads almost every stat category for SJHL goalies. Laser-Hume leads in goals-against-average (1.38), save percentage (.955), shutouts (two) and wins (eight, tied with Melfort's James Venne) while also giving up the fewest goals of any SJHL starter - just 11, fewer even than any number one goalie eliminated in round one.

Venne cannot be overlooked for the Mustangs though - the Saskatoon native was in goal for each of the Mustangs' three wins against the Bombers this year, giving up just two goals to Flin Flon in those three games and earning a shutout. Venne currently has a 2.62 goals-against-average and a .917 save percentage while playing every minute of the Mustangs' postseason so far.

Special teams may prove to play a big role. Through their 12 games, the Mustangs' penalty kill is working at 76.9 per cent - two-and-a-half percentage points lower than the Bombers' and more than six points below their regular season rate. The Bombers' penalty kill, which led the league in the regular season at a 87.7 per cent clip, has also taken a hit, sitting now at 79.4 per cent. The Mustangs have given up a league-high 12 powerplay goals this playoffs, while the Bombers have given up just seven.

On the powerplay though, the Bombers have been lethal, scoring over 30 per cent of the time. Melfort's powerplay is working at 21.2 per cent - while the Bombers' PP has scored more often in playoffs on average, the Mustangs' PP has dropped off slightly.

That could be costly for Melfort, who have taken more minutes of penalties than any other team in the SJHL playoffs. However, on average the Bombers have taken more penalty minutes per game than the Mustangs have - just under 22 minutes per game for Flin Flon, compared to just over 20 per game for Melfort.

Both teams have nine 2003-born players on roster, meaning each will need to keep one in the press box for every game. That final 2003-born player spot has rotated between Logan Cox, Tye Evans and Hayden Prosofsky, who have each played time for Melfort, while Flin Flon has rotated Matt Egan and Tyson Smith - Egan has three points, all goals, in four games, while Smith has four points, including three assists, in his four games.

Six of the Mustangs' nine 2003-born players are forwards and three are defenders, compared to the Bombers' five forwards, three defenders and one goalie.

Fatigue might prove a factor for Melfort, but travel will not be an issue for either team. The two teams' arenas are located just over 400 kilometres away from each other, making this the geographically closest finals series the Bombers have played since the last time the two teams faced off in 2016. By contrast, Flin Flon's other opponents in recent finals - Battlefords and Estevan - are 600 and 800 kilometres away, respectively.

Game 1 goes at the Whitney Forum April 19, while Game 2 will be played April 20 - 31 years to the day of the Bombers' last championship, won back in 1993.

Games 3 and 4 will shift back to Melfort, playing April 24 and 25. Game 5, if needed, would be played at the Whitney Forum April 27, with Game 6, if needed, taking place April 30. If both teams are tied after six games, Game 7 would be played at the Whitney Forum May 3.

The winner of the series will both hoist the Canterra Seeds Cup as SJHL champion and will represent the league at the incoming Centennial Cup in Oakville, Ont., starting May 9.

For more key numbers, see the table below: