The Flin Flon Bombers made a statement to the Sherwood Division Friday night - the season isn't over yet.
The Bombers faced off with the lowly La Ronge Ice Wolves Friday night. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Bombers had hit double digits, winning by a lopsided 11-4 score.
The scorers arrived early and in ill humour, pumping four goals past Ice Wolves goalie Luke Lush in the first period alone. Newly-minted SJHL Defenseman of the Year Eric Sinclair kicked things off early in the period with the opening goal. After a counterpunch from La Ronge's Derek Patter, the floodgates opened, with Nate Hooper, Jason Lavallee and Troy Williams each scoring in the last five minutes.
Craig Pejkovic added a goal for La Ronge, but Jason Lavallee hit back, scoring two in a row to complete a hat-trick. Lavallee would finish the game with five points. Jordan McCausland added another goal less than six minutes later. Justin Bill scored for La Ronge, followed by Nick Shumlanski potting his 16th of the season.
SJHL Player of the Year Greyson Reitmeier got on the board with a early third period goal. Reitmeier scored four points in the victory. Daylan Marchi fired his first SJHL goal past Lush, ending his night in the La Ronge crease after a whopping 70 shots. His replacement, La Ronge native David Kopeck, made a brief relief appearance for the last four minutes, facing five shots and allowing one goal to Nate Hooper.
Zac Robidoux got the win after a relatively quiet night in the Bomber crease, making 21 saves. La Ronge's loss extends their current losing streak to an incredible 28 straight games.
The two points earned by the Bombers pushes them to 79 points total, helping them keep pace with the surging Nipawin Hawks in the race for the Sherwood Division title. Nipawin won their game against Melfort Friday, giving them 81 points on the season and maintaining a two point lead over Flin Flon.
Both teams have two games remaining on the schedule, with each team playing Saturday night. Each team will have a rematch with their opponents from Friday night. Nipawin will play Melfort, while Flin Flon will face La Ronge at the Whitney Forum.
The last game of the season for each team will be a head-to-head faceoff, with Nipawin and Flin Flon playing at the Whitney Forum on Mar. 7.
A series of potential scenarios are possible in the division title chase. A Flin Flon loss and a Nipawin win Saturday night would give Nipawin the Sherwood Division title. A Flin Flon win and a Nipawin loss would tie the two teams in the standings ahead of the final head-to-head game. If both teams win, the division title will be decided in the final game. In that situation, the winner of the final game would win the Sherwood Division title.
