Injury bug, shminjury bug – despite losing a few key faces, the Bombers gutted out a big comeback win in Estevan Friday night, winning 7-4.
Some of the top players on the Flin Flon roster, including forward Donavan Houle-Villeneuve and goalie Kyle Jessiman, were out of the lineup, but the Bombers compensated by digging into the club’s reserve. Defenceman Jack Michell made his season debut for the Bombers, seeing his first action since being injured in preseason. Brandon Cianflone came back to the lineup as well. Replacing Jessiman was 16-year-old Hunter Lolacher. The affiliated goalie, playing this year with the midget AAA Tisdale Trojans, was at Bomber camp earlier this year.
Estevan controlled the first period, scoring the game’s first goal. Kolton Leslie snuck one by Bomber goalie Jacob Delorme less than a minute in.
After Chase Haygarth tied the game, Tyler Savage got on the board, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead after 20.
In the second, Estevan extended the lead courtesy of goals by Cody Davis and Griffin Asham-Moroz. Late in the second period, the Bruins were ahead 4-1.
Then, the Bombers woke up.
Cole Rafuse cut the lead to two with less than a minute left on the clock in the second, then added another goal early in the third to make it a one goal game. Chase Haygarth scored his second of the night to tie the game, then Tristan Lemyre potted the eventual gamewinner late in the third period. Rafuse added some insurance with a hat-trick goal, followed by a Matt Raymond empty netter. On 16 third period shots, the Bombers managed to scored five goals, completing the comeback.
Delorme made 27 saves on the night, while Bruins netminder Keenan Rancier made 34 stops.
The win pumps the Bombers’ lead in the Sherwood Division and SJHL standings even further – with 41 points in total, the Bombers become only the second SJHL team to hit the 40 point mark, sitting ahead of Melfort in the division standings and ahead of all but Battlefords in the SJ standings.
The Bombers remain perfect on their southern road swing, having the chance to finish flawless with a win against Weyburn Saturday night.
