The Bombers ended their last southern road swing of the season with style Sunday, beating Notre Dame 3-1 and moving into second place in the league in the process.
Cole Duperreault opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game, deflecting a point shot by Reece Richmond up high and past Hounds 'tender Tucker Inabinet on - you guessed it - a Bomber powerplay. Not long after, Kylynn Olafson got a late 19th birthday gift, scoring his first goal since Nov. 25 by digging away on a loose puck by Inabinet.
Notre Dame would answer back shortly after, with Marko Djordjevic beating Richmond to the outside and going post-in on Harmon Laser-Hume, making it 2-1. The Hounds would get plenty of chances to tie the game up, but Flin Flon would get the next goal with barely any time left on the clock. Off a Laser-Hume save, Zach Cain would grab the rebound and flip the puck over a pair of Hounds defenders and right in front of Joey Lies, who chased it down and got a breakaway. The local boy didn't score on the first shot, but would bury his rebound and send the Bombers to the intermission up 3-1.
While the Hounds got powerplay chances early in the second, the Bombers held firm. Duperreault had a golden chance for his second of the game, taking a penalty shot after a Hounds defender covered the puck with his hand in the crease, but Inabinet knocked the shot wide.
Ethan Mercer took a nasty tumble into the boards and was bloodied, leaving the game for a short time, but he'd return to the bench by the end of the second period. Flin Flon kept the 3-1 lead intact heading into the third.
Little offence would come in the third period. With Inabinet pulled late, the Hounds would bring one last-ditch effort to get the game close, but Notre Dame would fail, giving the Bombers their third win of their four game road swing.
Laser-Hume made 28 saves on the night, while Inabinet stopped 33 shots.
The win pushes the Bombers up into second place in the SJHL standings and into top spot of the Sherwood division once more, pushing ahead with 63 points to get out of the tie for second they had with both Humboldt and La Ronge. The Bombers are well back of top spot Battlefords and their 83 points, but have sole possession of second spot.
With the victory, the Bombers also finish one of their most successful southern road swings in years, picking up six of a possible eight points and getting wins against Yorkton, Estevan and the Hounds - only a 4-1 loss in Weyburn Thursday kept Flin Flon from sweeping the swing. The win also gives the Bombers the season series against the Hounds, winning three of a possible four games against the southern Saskatchewan prep school boys - the Hounds won their first encounter in October, but the Bombers won the next three.
The Bombers and Stars will face off at the Whitney Forum next weekend in a rematch of last year's SJHL playoff first round and Flin Flon is pulling out all the stops. The Feb. 17 game between the two teams will be this year's Hockey Night in the North, where admission for all fans will be free to watch the league's titans face off. The Bombers and Stars will play on both Feb. 17 and 18.
