One point, but not two - time ran out on the Bombers Friday night, with the team taking a 4-3 OT loss to La Ronge.
Both teams entered the game down their best players - Flin Flon's Carter Anderson was out with an injury, while La Ronge's Jacob Cossette was out serving the second of a two-game suspension after a headshot in the team's season opener. Whoever would win the game would need to do so with depth and defending, not highlight-reel talent.
La Ronge opened the scoring five minutes in with a two-on-one by Cole Thomas and Mason Bueckert, leading to Buecker beating Flin Flon goalie Kenny Marquart. The Bombers would get on the board themselves a few moments later courtesy of Austin Montgomery-Parsons, who knocked home a bounce off the back glass to tie it up.
Later in the frame, the Bombers gained the lead, with rookie Leo Seitz zooming a shot right past Ice Wolves goalie Logan Falk. Seitz's wrist shot sent Falk's water bottle halfway into the nosebleeds, giving him his first SJHL goal and the Bombers the lead. La Ronge battled back though late, culminating with Hudson Cameron jumping on a wide open puck in front to tie it up at two going into the second.
The first period ended with controversy, as the Bombers appeared to tie the game at the final whistle, jumping on a neutral zone turnover and leading to an Anthony Piccininno goal - but the two-second delay at the Whitney Forum between the clock hitting zero and the intermission horn going off bit the Bombers in the backside. While the horn had not yet gone off, the clock clearly showed no time was left in the period when the puck went in, similarly to when the Estevan Bruins thought they'd tied a game at the Forum last season at the final buzzer - the horn hadn't yet gone off, but time had still expired, nullifying the goal.
La Ronge got the game in their favour again in the second, picking up the lead again after Zane Normand scored on an odd-man rush. The Bombers' offence, which had an unusually low amount of shots in the first half of the game, began to pick up following Normand's goal, generating more shots and chances. Finally, with a man in the box, the momentum paid off - Ryder Ringor stole the puck and went in on a shorthanded breakaway, bore down on Falk and made no mistake. The game was tied at three-all heading into period three.
Flin Flon would push throughout the third, attempting to pull ahead, but they couldn't pull it off, despite 16 third period shots. The Bombers had chances, but Falk was up to the task. Overtime would be needed.
The OT period began with Keefe Gruener taking the term "crashing the net" a bit too literal, plowing into the goalpost while angling for a goal for Flin Flon. While the Bombers had the third period momentum, the pendulum swung La Ronge's way, keeping possession and the puck in the Bombers' end. That paid off for the Ice Wolves, as Hudson Cameron snuck in behind the Bomber defence and scored, ending the game and giving La Ronge their first win in the Whitney Forum since an OT win Sept. 23, 2022.
The last time Falk started at the Whitney Forum, he was knocked out in a goalie fight by Marquart last year. This time, Falk had the last laugh, getting the win with a 39 save performance. Marquart took the L Friday night, making 25 saves.
The Bombers will face La Ronge again at the Mel Hegland Uniplex Saturday night before heading out on their first southern swing of the year next week - four games in five nights, all on the road, with the Bombers playing Yorkton, Notre Dame, Weyburn and Estevan Oct. 1, 2, 4 and 5.
