Nipawin made the Bombers work for it, but Flin Flon came out on top Tuesday night on the road, taking a 3-2 win over the Hawks.
The Bombers got on the board halfway through the first, when Jacob Vockler got on a breakaway and was hacked on the hands by Nipawin defender Eric Hoiness while trying to shoot, giving Vockler a penalty shot. The league's leading goal scorer is not a player who passes up a chance like that, coming in slowly on Nipawin's Tyson Endall, dangling him out and popping the puck up, over and in.
Flin Flon got on the board a second time on the powerplay, with rookie Koen Senft corralling the puck in the high slot and firing it through traffic, beating Endall for his first-ever junior goal.
Nipawin would not go away quietly though, getting on the board late in the first. Joel Mabin would find an open seam pass from Ronan Buckberger and jump behind the Bomber defence, catching Luke Lepper and Aiden Chow flatfooted as he raced in and beat Harmon Laser-Hume. The goal cut Flin Flon's lead to 2-1, which they would keep to start the second.
The Bombers would open the door for the Hawks almost immediately into the second period, with Anthony Piccininno getting tied up with Mabin and knocking him down away from the play, giving the Hawks a powerplay. Less than a minute later, a point shot by Ronan Buckberger would trickle through a few bodies and Evan Forrest would knock it home, tying the game.
The second period would continue on tied, with a pile of penalties toward the end of the frame. In the final minute of the period, Bomber captain Justin Lies bumped into Endall while chasing a puck in the corner, leading to the goalie going down hard. Hawks defender Luke Chase took umbrage, getting in Lies' face and trying to shove an official out of the way, but the Bombers ended the scenario up a man - Chase took a 10-minute misconduct, Lies took a two-minute interference penalty and Endall took a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the officials ruled that he dove. Regardless of the mess, both teams entered the third tied at two.
Entering the third, the Bombers buzzed the Nipawin zone and it paid off, with Carter Anderson and Lies entering the zone on a two-on-one, Anderson teeing up Lies and the captain making no mistake, exploding Endall's water bottle with a pinpoint shot for his ninth of the year. Lies got a 10-minute misconduct for celebrating the goal too close to the Hawks bench, but the Bombers would take the lead and not give it up.
Laser-Hume got the win with a 29 save performance, while Endall made 29 saves of his own in a losing cause. Laser-Hume seems to show his stuff best against the Hawks, who traded him to Flin Flon for cash before the start of last season - after losing his first game back in September 2022, Laser-Hume has since beaten the Hawks seven consecutive times.
The win gives the Bombers a modern record 11 game winning streak and a 12-0-1-0 record, staying atop the SJHL standings with 25 points, seven points clear of Humboldt and Melfort, who are both tied for second place. The Mustangs took a tough loss Tuesday, losing to fifth-place Melville 5-3.
The Bombers will face the Millionaires twice this weekend at the Whitney Forum, playing both Oct. 27-28.
