Flin Flon overpowered the Terriers in the first game of their southern road swing Wednesday, shutting out Yorkton 2-0.
The Bombers got their first goal of the night early on, barely two minutes after the opening whistle, from a player who knows the Terriers well. Zach Cain, who played Yorkton often as a member of the Melville Millionaires, deflected in a point shot by Rylan Pearce. That gave the Bombers a 1-0 lead that would stand into the second period.
No offence came in the second, but the game got nasty after Liam Bridger nailed Yorkton defender Dalton Mayes with a check from behind late in the period. That hit drew a crowd, with Terrier Clay Sleeva dropping the mitts with Bridger, Mayes getting up and getting involved in the pile and dropping the gloves with Noah Houle and plenty of other mayhem. The scrap ended with Bridger and Houle being ejected from the Bombers, Mayes getting turfed from the Terriers and Flin Flon's Matt Egan and Yorkton's Quintin Unreiner each getting 10-minute misconducts.
In the third period, it was Yorkton's turn to get nasty, with JD Hall nailing Jacob Vockler from behind and drawing another crowd. Alex Von Sprecken came and immediately nailed Hall, with the officials quickly keeping the situation from escalating further. Hall was ejected, Vockler stayed in the game and play continued.
Chances would come and go but Yorkton, owners of the SJHL's least potent offence and worst goal differential, never put many chances of note on Bomber goalie Kenneth Marquart. The home team managed only six third period shots. Jeremy Tremblay almost extended the Bomber lead on a wraparound, with Terrier tendy Caleb Allen sprawled out, but couldn't find the twine.
Flin Flon would ice the win late in the third, with Barron Stibbe being sprung on a breakaway with just over two minutes to go and sliding the puck through Allen's pads, scoring his first as a Bomber and his first goal in Canadian junior hockey, making it 2-0 Bombers - how the game would end.
Marquart had a quiet night in the Bomber crease but picked up his second shutout of the season with a 21-save performance. Allen made 35 stops on the night.
One of the big stories for the Bombers came off the scoresheet - forward Cole Duperreault left the game for the Bombers at the end of the first period and, while he did return to the game, did not take a regular shift for the rest of the night. Duperreault served a penalty later in the game, but did not play. His status is unknown. Forward Ethan Mercer was also banged up during play and left for the dressing room, but did reenter the game.
The Bombers will continue their road trip with three more games in the next four nights, including a Thursday night matchup against the Red Wings in Nipawin.
