The Bombers now know where they will finish in their group at the Centennial Cup - and who they will face in the tournament quarterfinals.
Flin Flon entered Wednesday with a chance to finish first in their division, but a pair of unwanted results bumped the maroon and white down to third place in their pool. As a result, the Bombers will play the Pickering Panthers, the OJHL champions and the second seed of the other group, in a quarterfinal matchup Friday.
Standings
Two games would determine where the Bombers would finish in the group standings - first, a matchup between the MHL champion Summerside Western Capitals and the Ottawa Jr. Senators, the CCHL champs.
The Bombers, having played all four of their preliminary round games, had already finished with seven points. Going into the game, Summerside had six points in three games - Ottawa had four in three games.
If Summerside won, they would leapfrog over Flin Flon into the playoff round with nine points (or eight points if the game went to overtime). An Ottawa win would put the Sens into the playoffs, but they would be tied with Flin Flon on seven points each and the Bombers would finish ahead, having beat the Sens earlier in the tournament.
The team that would finish first in the group would receive a bye into the tournament semifinals, while the second and third seeds would play another game in the quarterfinals later this week.
Summerside would draw first blood in the first, but Ottawa would tie the game later in the period, then take the lead early in the second. Summerside would tie the game up midway through the third, but Ottawa would pick up a go-ahead goal later in the period - only for Summerside, with the net empty, to tie the game with 21 seconds left, putting the Capitals into the playoffs and pushing Ottawa out.
Following the tying goal, the Senators would immediately pull their goalie (in need of a regulation win) and put six forwards out on the ice. The Capitals would win the draw and immediately fire a shot off at the empty net, which hit the post and went wide.
Instead of calling the play icing - as the shot was launched from behind the red line and a shot off the post is not registered as a shot on goal - the play continued, with the puck getting back to the Capitals, who scored on their second empty net try.
The intrigue wasn't over however, as the officials conferred and determined that a Capitals player was offside on the second shot, calling back the goal.
A called icing on the first miss would have put the faceoff in the Summerside zone with about 12 seconds left. Instead, the faceoff would take place on the Capitals' half of the neutral zone with 4.7 seconds left. Summerside won the draw back and played out the clock, clinching their spot and pushing the Bombers out of the group lead.
With overtime being meaningless, the Capitals finished the job with a goal by Colby MacArthur less than two minutes in, giving Summerside an OT win, eight total points and eliminating Ottawa.
Game two
The second game that would determine the Bombers' spot was between the MJHL champion Dauphin Kings and the Soo Thunderbirds, the NOJHL champs. Soo had already been eliminated from contention, having gone winless through their first three games - Dauphin had seven points coming into the game and could lock up top spot with any result except a regulation loss.
Three points from a regulation win would clinch the Kings top spot in the division, as would two for an overtime win or one for an OT loss - the Kings beat Summerside earlier, giving Dauphin a tiebreaker over them. A regulation loss, however, would put Dauphin third and Flin Flon second, tying both teams at seven points and giving the Bombers an edge on tiebreak thanks to Flin Flon's shootout win over the Kings Tuesday night.
Dauphin took over the game early, scoring twice in the first period, adding another trio of goals in the second and shutting down Soo's momentum at every turn. The Kings would eventually win 6-1, giving them top spot.
Final results
Dauphin will finish first in Group B with 10 points, ahead of Summerside's eight and Flin Flon's seven. The tournament is over for both Ottawa and Soo.
Group A's standings are already decided. One more game is still yet to be played - a matchup between the AJHL's Brooks Bandits and the host Estevan Bruins - but for the tournament standings, the result won't matter. Brooks is guaranteed to finish first in the group with nine points and counting and will get the semifinal bye, while Estevan and their three points will finish fourth and will miss the playoff round.
The OJHL's Pickering Panthers and their eight points will finish second in Group A, while College Francais de Longueuil from the LHJQ has seven points, putting them third.
With the placements all figured out, it will be Brooks and Dauphin advancing straight to the semifinals, while the second seeds of each group will play the other group's third seeds. This means the Bomber will face Pickering, while Summerside will play a quarterfinal game against Longueuil.
Quarterfinal games will be played Friday, with one game starting at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time (5 p.m. Manitoba time) and the other at 7:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time (8:30 p.m. Manitoba time) The semifinals will be played at the same times Saturday, while the tournament final will be played at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time (5 p.m. Manitoba time) Sunday.
The quarterfinals and semifinals can be streamed online on the Hockey Canada website, while the tournament final will be broadcast live nationwide on TSN.
