Nobody could have expected this final score - the Flin Flon Bombers, facing the league-leading Battlefords North Stars on the road, beat the ever-loving snot out of them Saturday night.
The Bombers went full throttle on the Stars, winning 10-1 to emphatically finish up Flin Flon’s three-game road trip.
Matt Flodell got the show going less than three minutes into the game, giving the Bombers a lead with an early goal. Later in the period, with Caleb Franklin in the box, Easton Haygarth scored shorthanded, giving the Bombers a 2-0 lead after 20.
Flin Flon went off in the second period, with Tristan Lemyre scoring the first of three powerplay goals on the game about a minute in. Jaxon White added another marker moments later, followed by another Lemyre powerplay goal, chasing Stars goalie Austin Schwab and bringing in backup Adam Dmyterko. Mason Martin scored once again with a man up late in the frame, making it a 6-0 game.
Lemyre capped off his hat trick in the opening minute of the third period, followed by Cole Rafuse making it an 8-0 game with 16 minutes left to go. Matt Raymond scored the Bombers’ ninth straight goal less than five minutes into the third.
Battlefords was able to score their only goal of the game with less than seven minutes to go, with Elijah Loon-Stewardson finally getting one by Jacob Delorme on the Stars’ teddy bear toss night. The Bombers didn’t stop at nine, however – Rafuse brought this one into double digits with a minute to go, making it 10-1 at the final whistle. The Bombers came one post in the dying seconds away from getting an 11th goal.
Delorme got his second win of the week after making 33 saves. The Stars’ goalies got lit up like Christmas trees – Schwab made 12 stops on 17 shots, while Dmyterko made only nine saves on 14 shots. Despite the lopsided score, the Stars actually outshot the Bombers 34-31.
Alec Malo did not score, but did finish the game with five assists and nine points total on the road trip. The team’s top performer of the trip south was arguably Lemyre, who had nine points, including six goals.
The Bombers still sit behind the Stars in the SJHL overall standings, only six points back – 56 to 50. Flin Flon is now only the second team in the league to hit 50 points on the season and will remain the only team until at least the holiday break – Melfort and Yorkton, both tied for third with 43 points, have two and three games left before the break, respectively.
The Bombers only have a pair of games left in 2019 – a home-and-home series with La Ronge, starting in La Ronge Dec. 20 and ending with a home date Dec. 21.
