That had to feel good. The Bombers found their mojo again Friday, beating rivals La Ronge 6-4 in their final meeting this year.
Flin Flon got their 43rd win of the season and a season sweep of the SJHL's other northern club, putting the hammer down early and hanging on late.
The game started with a bang - literally. Less than ten seconds off the opening faceoff, Pierce Yakimchuk made his presence known, hitting La Ronge's William Forsberg near the penalty box and shattering the glass. The game was delayed for about 30 minutes while Whitney Forum staff replaced the glass and cleaned up shards from the ice and inside the box. Both Yakimchuk and Forsberg were okay and finished the game - a staff member received cuts on his hands from the falling glass but was otherwise alright.
Once the rubble was cleared and play restarted, the Bombers buzzed through the zone, getting on the board with a powerplay goal by Justin Lies, who fired one five-hole on Ice Wolves tendy Eric Kahl. Lies' 39th goal would be answered back later in the period by La Ronge's Brynn MacLean, who fired a long shot with eyes past Kenny Marquart. The tie would be shortlived - Riley Niven emphatically gave the Bombers the lead back by ripping one bar down on Kahl while MacLean's goal was being announced on the rink's PA system.
Flin Flon would climb further in front late in the frame on another powerplay, with Alexi Sylvestre being left wide open in the high slot and firing a shot cleanly top corner on Kahl. The Bombers led 3-1 after the first.
The Bombers kept the momentum up early in the second, with Matt Egan getting his name on the scoresheet, keeping and shooting on a two-on-one and beating Kahl, extending Flin Flon's lead to three. The home team was dictating pace, but the Ice Wolves kept up and eventually took over momentum for parts of the second.
First, Dylan Handel brought the visitors back within two with a powerplay, tipping a point shot in past Marquart. Then, after killing off a penalty, the Ice Wolves got within one by forcing a turnover and having Sage Roberts find the twine. The Ice Wolves may already be out of playoff contention this season, but they had the Bombers on the ropes, down just 4-3 going into the third.
The Bombers pushed back to start the final frame, setting up their attack and having Egan capitalize on a rebound, dropping to one knee to drive it home past Kahl. La Ronge would battle back to make it a one-goal game again, with Parker Layton getting a seeing-eye shot past Marquart. With Kahl pulled late in the game, Anthony Piccininno juked a defender and shot a puck into the empty net to clinch it, getting his first goal in over a month.
Marquart stopped 24 shots on the night, while Kahl saved 39 shots in total.
The win pushes the Bombers to 89 total points and a 43-7-2-1 record, 12 points clear of Melfort in the SJHL standings with a game in hand on the Mustangs. With a regular season and Sherwood division title long-since clinched, the Bombers can still tie the team's all-time junior A record for wins in a season by winning their final three games.
The eight teams that will make it in the SJHL playoffs are now known - the final team entering Friday that could sneak into the playoffs, Nipawin, lost Friday, knocking them out of contention. With the Bombers stuck into first place, whoever will take the league's eighth-seed - and face the Bombers in the first round of the playoffs - is still unknown.
The Bombers will face one of three teams - the Kindersley Klippers, the Estevan Bruins or Weyburn Red Wings. The Klippers currently sit eighth with 53 points and two games left, both against the Battlefords North Stars, who have fallen to fourth in the SJHL standings due to a recent losing streak but still have clinched first-round home ice advantage. If the Klippers lose both games with the Stars, they will face the Bombers. If they get more than two of the possible four points, they could leapfrog one of Estevan or Weyburn, whose end-of-season standing will depend on how they play against each other.
Estevan, who are tied with archrivals Weyburn, play their final two games against the Red Wings next weekend, while the Red Wings play four more games, facing Melville and Notre Dame next week before the faceoffs with Estevan. If Estevan beats the Red Wings twice, they would jump into sixth - if they lose twice and Kindersley beats the Stars, they could fall to eighth and be the Bombers' first round date.
Flin Flon has three games left to play on the regular season, all on the road - a matchup Sunday afternoon in Nipawin, then two games March 15-16 against third-place Humboldt.
