The Bombers had an afternoon delight in Humboldt Sunday, leaving town with their second win in less than 24 hours - a 4-2 victory.
Flin Flon took control early and kept the Broncos away. Luke Lepper blew home a shot on an early powerplay that Mitchell had next to no chance to save, then Carter Cormier would extend that lead later in the first, jumping in front of Mitchell and snapping home a pass from the corner. Keefe Gruener sunk a dagger into Humboldt with a shorthanded goal not long before the period’s final horn, breaking in with Joey Lies and burying the rebound on Lies’ initial shot.
Going into the second up three, the Bombers couldn’t keep the Broncos at bay forever - newly acquired Cade Kennedy got Humboldt on the scoreboard with a slapshot that took a bounce Kieper didn’t see coming, making it 3-1. The Bombers would restore the three-goal lead with Reid Arberry jumping on a bounce out front, burying it past Mitchell.
Things got physical in the third period. Emerson Clark took a penalty for a hit on Humboldt’s Marik Mamic - the two players shifted space before the check, leading to Clark’s knee hitting Mamic’s thigh and a kneeing penalty on the Bombers. Arberry nearly got his second goal of the night, but was tripped up by Ryder Knutson on his way to the net, crashing heavily into the boards. Arberry was okay and got up under his own power and Knutson got two minutes for the trip, Humboldt captain Landen Stromme drove Ryder Ringor into the boards hard from behind soon after - Ringor got up okay, Stromme was penalized, no goals were scored and the game went on.
Flin Flon’s powerplay was the cloud in the night’s silver lining - Humboldt gave the Bombers eight chances to score with a man up, but Flin Flon missed on all eight. It wouldn’t matter in the end though - despite Tyce Penrod scoring his first as a Bronco in the final minute, the Bombers would hang on.
Kieper, playing his second game in less than a day, made 30 saves for the win - Mitchell handled the hard workload less well, stopping 38 shots in the loss.
After picking up six more points, the Bombers still sit second in the league standings with 49 points in 35 games. While the Bombers are still nine points back of first-place Melfort, the Bombers are now four points ahead of Yorkton, five ahead of Weyburn and six up on Battlefords.
The Bombers have had at least one point in each of their last 19 games, going 17-0-1-1 and picking up 36 of 38 possible points in that time. The Bombers are now also on a three-game winning streak. The point streak is the team’s longest since at least 2006, as far back as the SJHL’s official stats on team streaks go.
While the Bombers remain the SJHL’s hottest team as of late, they have some competition from Kindersley, who have a seven-game point streak of their own, pushing them into sixth place in the league. The Klippers also picked up scorer Mason Bueckert from La Ronge at the recent SJHL trade deadline. Kindersley will be in town to play the Bombers this weekend.
The two teams will battle at the Whitney Forum Jan. 17 and 18 before the team goes on their second dreaded southern swing next week - playing in Melville Jan. 21, Jan. 22 in Estevan, Weyburn Jan. 24 and at Notre Dame Jan. 25.
