No turkey hangovers here - the Bombers stuffed the net late against Nipawin Friday, winning 4-2.
Flin Flon extended their winning streak to 10 in a comeback effort against their division rivals. The night started with a special message on the Whitney Forum jumbotron for Bomber forward Matt Egan, who was diagnosed with cancer during the holiday break. Egan was in attendance, currently suspended from play - the game program from the evening said Egan would be able to resume skating later this month.
Once the game got going, Nipawin opened the scoring thanks to a ghost of Bomber prospects past. Less than three minutes in, Jacob Michelson scored his second of the season through traffic on a shot Bomber netminder Harmon Laser-Hume might not have seen. Michelson attended camp with the Bombers last season and didn't make the team, leaving him open for the Hawks to sign him this year. The Hawks nearly had a second goal, but the play was whistled dead on an offside before the shot went off, causing the goal to be disallowed.
Nipawin, playing their second game after the break, had a noticeable jump on the Bombers early on, leading 1-0 after 20 and outshooting the Bombers early.
Come time for the second period, the Bomber offence would wake up halfway through. Flin Flon thought they had the game tied on a powerplay midway through when Alexi Sylvestre knocked a loose puck past goalie Damon Cunningham, but the goal was waved off - Justin Lies had collided with the goalie just before the puck crossed the line, causing the goal to be disallowed. That wouldn't matter in the end though, as Carter Anderson jumped on a loose puck and hammered it home past Cunningham and tying the game.
Anderson would then give the Bombers a lead not long after, making it 2-1 with a bullet to the top corner. The lead would not last, as Nipawin's Alex Bernauer almost immediately went the other way and tied it up - the game would enter the third tied at two, but the Bombers had knocked off the rust.
After killing off a 5-on-3 penalty kill, the Bombers got a powerplay of their own. Not long after, Justin Lies jumped on a puck near the Nipawin net, cut in and scored, giving Flin Flon the lead. Lies' goal would prove to be the game-winner.
After yet another Nipawin powerplay, Anderson made Nipawin pay again for a lack of discipline, hammering home a one-time to complete the hat-trick. Chapeaus hit the ice as the Thompson native's 27th goal of the year made it 4-2 Bombers - all four of those goals came with a man up.
Anderson's night would not end the way he or the Bombers hoped, with the forward nailing Nipawin's Brayden Jockims with a big hit that caught Jockims' head. Anderson was given a game misconduct and watched the rest of the night from the door near the Bombers' dressing room while being mobbed by Thompson King Miners minor hockey players - the kids, from the program Anderson grew up playing for, were in town for the Jason Morran Memorial Tournament this weekend and got autographs from their hometown hero.
Following the game, some of the players in town for that tournament came out onto the Whitney Forum ice and got a group photo together with the Bombers, who still sit atop the SJHL standings by some distance.
Laser-Hume had a long night in the Bomber crease against his old team, but saved all but two shots he faced - 40 stops in total. Cunningham made 36 saves in a losing cause.
The win gives the Bombers a total of 60 points and a 29-1-2-0 record, well atop the SJHL standings. Second-place Melfort has 49 points and have played three more games than the Bombers have - Flin Flon cracked the 60-point barrier before any other SJHL team cracked 50. Two teams that made the SJHL playoffs last year did so with fewer than 60 points on the season - the Bombers still have 24 games to play.
The Bombers are back in action again Saturday night on the road against Melfort in a 1 vs. 2 battle. They'll be back home again next weekend for another game against the Hawks Jan. 12.
