The dream is done.
Despite a solid effort, the Flin Flon Bombers have lost the Canalta Cup Final for the second year in a row, losing in four games to the Battlefords North Stars. The Stars took home the league title after a 6-5 win at the Whitney Forum.
The Stars opened the scoring early in the first. Forward Troy Gerein, back in the lineup after serving a suspension for a headshot on Nate Hooper, got the ball rolling.
The Bombers wouldn't be denied, however. Kristian St. Onge tied the game seven minutes later, beating Stars netminder Joel Gryzbowski. Bryce Hall snagged the lead back for the Battlefords minutes later.
Flin Flon tied the game up with three seconds left in the first on an unorthodox goal by Tyler Nyman. Gryzbowski couldn't handle a Nyman shot from the neutral zone, bobbling it into his own net. Gryzbowski was yanked from the Stars crease after the gaffe.
The Bombers got another laugher seconds into the second period, with Troy Williams getting a bouncing shot from 100 feet by Stars goalie Taryn Kotchorek. The Bombers added another goal, a power-play marker by Nick Shumlanski, to make the game 4-2 for the home side.
It was at this point when Battlefords clawed back. A defensive collapse by Flin Flon led to a Stars 3-on-1, with Reed Delainey firing home a wrister past Bomber goalie Zac Robidoux. Ten minutes later, another defensive collapse led to another Stars odd-man rush. Layne Young was the beneficiary, tying the game at 4 before the second intermission.
In the third, another defensive lapse led to the Stars scoring once more. All five players were caught down low, leaving three Stars open near the blue line. Young, one of the open players, grabbed the puck and made no mistake, giving his team the lead. After giving up five goals in what could be his last-ever junior hockey game, Zac Robidoux was pulled from the Flin Flon crease.
Brenden Newton barely had time to get comfortable before Coby Downs, fresh off a one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct, slid one into the net. The score was now 6-4 Stars.
Kristian St. Onge clawed the team back with a late goal, but despite a last-minute push by the Bombers and a late goalie pull, it just wasn't enough.
Kotchorek gets credit for the title-game win, making 23 saves in relief. Gryzbowski made only eight saves during 20 minutes of work. Robidoux ended the match with 34 stops, with Newton adding an extra 12.
The Stars have won the league title for the first time since 2000. The Bombers have not won a title since 1992-93, now going 24 years without a championship.
Battlefords will move on to the Western Canada Cup, where they will face the AJHL champion Brooks Bandits, the BCHL's Chilliwack Chiefs, the host Penticton Vees and the newly-minted MJHL champion Portage Terriers.
In what may be looked back on in time as a dark day in northern Manitoba hockey history, the OCN Blizzard also lost a title clinching game Wednesday, losing to Portage 1-0.
The Bombers will bid farewell to several graduating players, including Zac Robidoux, Jason Lavallee, Greyson Reitmeier, Teal Sobkowicz, Kristian St. Onge, Eric Sinclair, Mason Etter, Braden Lacoursiere, Brandon Masson.
