After a hot start to the SJHL season, the Flin Flon Bombers are back to .500 hockey, dropping Saturday's game against Nipawin 3-1.
The Bombers opened the scoring with Jessie Young beating Nipawin backup Patrick Pugliese. It would be the only time the Bombers got past Pugliese, who was playing his first SJHL game.
Arik Breton got Nipawin on the board in the second period, beating Bomber netminder Hunter Young, also getting his first junior start. Late in the second period, the Bombers had a 5-on-3 opportunity for over a minute, hoping to even the score, but the Hawks defence and Pugliese shut the door.
In the third period, Jaxsen Wiebe got the game-winner for Nipawin, scoring on a sudden, unfortunate bounce. Austen Flaman added an empty-netter late in the third.
Young made 29 saves in the defeat, while Pugliese had 24 saves for Nipawin.
The Bombers racked up more than an hour in penalty minutes throughout the game, due in large part to a scrum in the second period. By the time the dust had settled, one Nipawin player and three Bombers - Chrystopher Collin, Daylan Marchi and Caleb Moretx - had received five minute fighting majors and ten minute misconducts. Minutes later, Isaac Jackson received the same penalties, along with an extra two-minute instigator penalty.
The next stop for the Bombers is Warman, Sask. - the home of the SJHL Showcase. The Bombers will play on Monday and Tuesday, first against Melville, then against Yorkton, before coming back to Flin Flon for a four-game home stand.
