Another game brought another big win for the Flin Flon Bombers, who took down arch-rivals La Ronge in a spirited 2-1 tilt Wednesday night.
Like their meet-up a night earlier in La Ronge, the Bombers struck first, with Brett Wieschorster opening the scoring late in the opening frame. In the second period, Wieschorster and Drew Kuzma came in on a two-on-one, with Kuzma potting his first goal as a Bomber on the rebound.
Also like Tuesday night's game, there was plenty of rough stuff, starting in the second following a hit by Jordan Pfoh on La Ronge's Conrad Mitchell. The hit brought a pair of Ice Wolves - Mkyllan Couture and Ethan Strik - on to Pfoh, with both players throwing punches at the Bomber defenceman. Kylynn Olafson came in to take Strik away from the two-on-one, leading to a long list of penalties. By the time the dust settled, Couture and Pfoh were both ejected for fighting, while Strik received a two-and-ten for roughing and Olafson earned a 10-minute misconduct.
La Ronge almost opened the game up in the second, with the puck entering the Bomber net, but the goal was immediately waived off due to goalie interference - leading to some more fisticuffs, this time between Cole Tanchuk and La Ronge's Jacob Visentini. Both got two-and-tens for roughing and the game continued.
Once both teams got back to playing actual hockey, the Ice Wolves finally got on the board from Walker Jerome, poking home a loose puck late in the second. The Bombers protested, saying the puck was possibly kicked in, but the goal would stand.
More hijinks ensued later in the period, when Bomber goalie Ben Montgomery, playing his first game in maroon and white, took a stoppage to fix an issue with his equipment, skating over to the Bomber bench. That stoppage led to Cal Schell stepping into the net for a brief time while Montgomery - as apparently under league rules, a goalie can only come to the bench to be pulled or changed. Schell held down the fort for a couple minutes while Montgomery fixed his pad, with the Bombers switching back for the next whistle.
The game ended with a 2-1 Bomber win and Montgomery received his first SJHL victory, making 28 stops. Schell made a pair of saves in his brief sojourn to the crease. La Ronge netminder Dawson Smith made 34 saves on the evening.
With the win, the Bombers move to 24-10-0-1 on the season with 49 points, sitting fifth in the league standings but third by point percentage. Flin Flon also sits second in the Sherwood division, behind only Melfort.
The Bombers won't have to wait long to be back in action - they'll be on the road to Melfort for an away game Friday night, with a return date at the Whitney Forum Saturday. Like Wednesday's game, attendance is limited to 250 fans as per current Manitoba health orders.
