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Bomber Game Report: Flin Flon takes 4-3 triumph over rivals Nipawin

Chalk one up for the home team. The Bombers came to play Saturday night, taking a 4-3 W against Nipawin.
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Bomber Game Report

Chalk one up for the home team. The Bombers came to play Saturday night, taking a 4-3 W against Nipawin.

Flin Flon battled back from a 2-0 deficit to take a hard-fought home victory, pushing the Bombers to a three-game winning streak. Playing their first game since the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Bombers wore stick tape and skate laces emblazoned with orange as a sign of respect for Indigenous peoples and history.

Bomber goalie Harmon Laser-Hume, eager to avenge the team's sole loss of the year against his former team in Nipawin, started strong, but the visitors still struck first. Maguire Ratzlaff was the beneficiary of a bounce that sent the puck into the Bomber cage halfway through the first period, then Jake Smith beat the goalie clean to end the first and make it 2-0 Hawks.

The Bombers would charge forward in the second, spurred on by a goal by Cole Duperreault shortly after a dominant Flin Flon powerplay. Duperreault's shot hit the post, then bounced up in the air, down into the crease and rolled into the net, giving the forward his seventh goal in six games with a Harlem Globetrotters-esque display.

Alexi Sylvestre tied the game up moments later, pouncing on a turnover by a Hawks defender and wristing it past Nipawin's Reid Lalonde. While Flin Flon would take a penalty soon after, the Bombers would still control possession despite being short a man and would outshoot the Hawks.

A late hit by Nipawin's Matthew Nesto on an icing (ending in a penalty for Carson Dobson as officials misidentified the player) led to further Flin Flon momentum, which Reece Richmond capitalized on, firing a wrist shot home and giving the Bombers the lead.

Late in the second, the game would take a turn for the chippy. After a goalmouth scramble, the stick of Nipawin's Dobson made contact with Laser-Hume's head, knocking the goalie to the ice after the whistle. No penalty was called. The Bombers would get a few late chances to extend the lead, but would leave the ice for intermission with a 3-2 lead.

The third period was marked by further close calls. Laser-Hume was outright run out of the crease a few minutes into the period after being hit by Nipawin's Jake Smith. The Hawks would end up gaining possession and scoring, but the play was waived off as the back official called Smith for goalie interference and waved off the goal. That would be followed by a Nipawin high sticking call, putting the Hawks down to a 5-on-3.

On the powerplay, Sylvestre shone with a sickening snipe, coming over the blueline and firing the puck bar-down on Lalonde, making it 4-2 Bombers.

Nipawin would run Laser-Hume a third time in a goalmouth scramble, then Dobson would make contact with the goalie for a fourth time. Neither of those plays, while Laser-Hume was sent to the ice both times, would be deemed worthy of penalties. Laser-Hume was nearly knocked into for a fifth time when a Hawk pushed Flin Flon's Mason Hartley into the crease toward the goalie - Hartley stopped short and pushed back, once again leading in no penalties.

After being hit by Flin Flon's Cole Tanchuk in the corner, Hawk Joel Mabin got into a fracas in the corner - that would end with Mabin tossed from the game. More penalties would arise throughout the late third, including some calls both ways, ending with a Hawks 5-on-3 late. The Bombers were able to kill the first penalty off, with Lalonde hitting Nipawin's bench to make the second penalty a 6-on-4 situation.

Nipawin was able to add one goal in garbage time, with Bryden Kiesman firing home a third goal with about a second left on the clock, but the win was already on - the Bombers' moose leg had already hit the ice by the time the ref dropped the puck one last time as a formality.

Despite a very rude encounter with his former teammates, Laser-Hume stopped 26 shots on the night. Lalonde made 37 saves for the Hawks.

Flin Flon will play a rare Sunday home game against league-leaders Humboldt Oct. 2, with the start time at 6 p.m. local time.

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