The Bombers sent fans home happy in their last Whitney Forum game of 2022, beating rivals La Ronge 5-1.
A big second period spurred Flin Flon ahead in the first leg of a home-and-home weekend - and closer to catching the Wolves up in the league and division standings.
La Ronge opened the scoring early in the first, with rookie Jacob Cossette scoring a powerplay goal six minutes in, but the Bombers owned the scoresheet after that. Brent Gulenchyn got the Bombers on the board moments later, tying things up. The Bombers would kill off four minutes of 5-on-3 hockey later in the frame to end the first tied one-all.
That tie would go away pretty quickly after the second period got underway. Jacob Vockler got on the board with a powerplay goal from a nearly impossible angle only 37 seconds in - and that got the party started. Cole Duperreault put a one-timer well past La Ronge goalie Topher Chirico seconds into another powerplay moments later to extend the lead. The Bombers score twice before the Wolves had even a single shot in the period.
Duperreault then turned distributor, getting a gorgeous feed from Jaeden Mercier and getting a two-on-none chance against Chirico with Jaxon Martens. Duperreault pulled Chirico well out of the crease to guard him before dropping the puck at the last moment, leaving Martens with an early Christmas gift - a wide-open net and a 4-1 goal.
One wasn't enough for the pair though, who got sprung on a similar two-on-none moments later. Chirico again gambled on a Duperreault shot and once again, he bet wrong, with Martens taking a second pass and scoring a second goal.
The scoring would end following Martens' 10th and 11th goals of the season. The game took a physical turn in the third. Joey Lies lost an edge heading into the zone early in the third and fell into Chirico, drawing a crowd and causing several near-fights - all of which were broken up by the game officials. The Bombers would take a numbers disadvantage, going down 5-on-3 after another later penalty, but the Ice Wolves' offence froze - the best chance came from Vockler, who got a partial breakaway and almost beat Chirico despite Flin Flon being down two players.
Bomber Reece Richmond and Parker Layton of the Ice Wolves dropped the mitts late - and despite Richmond giving up two inches in height to Layton, the judges of the Forum would give Richmond the technical knockout on punches and a partial takedown. Richmond, who had an assist, would end the night with an early shower, one goal short of a Gordie Howe hat-trick.
Harmon Laser-Hume picked up a big bounceback win, making 28 saves on 29 shots for the win, while Chirico was shelled, stopping 40 of 45 Bomber chances.
Flin Flon currently sits third in the league standings with 41 points, behind first-place Battlefords (57 points) and the Wolves (44 points), who are currently up on the Bombers in both the league and SJHL standings. However, La Ronge has played four more games than the Bombers have and sit only three points ahead - by points percentage, Flin Flon sits second in the league, ahead of the Wolves, who sit fourth behind Flin Flon and the Humboldt Broncos.
If current trends continue, the Bombers would finish the 56 game schedule with 79 points, while La Ronge and Humboldt would have 74 and 75 points respectively.
The Bombers and Wolves will play each other again in La Ronge Saturday in what will be the Bombers' final game both before the holiday break and of 2022. Flin Flon will be back in action again versus the Wolves on the road again Jan. 3.
