The Bombers did just about everything Tuesday night against Yorkton except one big thing - score. The team's lack of goals doomed them to a 3-0 loss and a four-game losing skid.
Yorkton was ranked first in the league last weekend, having won all but one of their games this season. That changed Monday, when the Terriers were penalized for playing an ineligible player during three recent wins. Those wins became forfeit losses, the team lost six points in the standings and the Terriers went from first to ninth, bumping the Bombers up to seventh. Yorkton has appealed the decision, but the penalty is still in effect as of Tuesday night.
The Bombers wouldn't just get the SJHL's best team on the ice Tuesday - they would get them coming north with a point to prove.
Things weren't fast early, but the Terriers got the game's first goal four minutes in, scoring on the first shot of the night - Evan Cormier put a blooper from the point on Kenny Marquart and it popped past his glove hand and in the net. It was one the Bomber goalie likely wanted back immediately - and somehow, despite the way the next 56 minutes of action played out, it turned out to be the game-winner.
Very few shots hit the net through the first period - just five combined at the mid-period media timeout, with the Terriers' goal being their only shot for some time. The Bombers got a powerplay late but didn't generate many chances on it, going into the period down one.
The early second saw mostly transitional hockey in the neutral zone, but once the teams began breaking through, the Bombers hemmed Yorkton into their own zone for long stretches. Despite the Terriers being a motivated group and having seen success this year, the Bombers dictated the pace.
The powerplay got more action after a Yorkton penalty and put shot after shot on Terriers goalie Callum Creig, along with plenty of juicy rebounds - many of the Bombers' shots came from rebounds that came straight into the slot.
While the Bombers put plenty of shots on goal through the game's final two periods, their game was absolutely devoid of puck luck - shots bounced off defenders, off sticks, off posts, even off ruts in the ice. The puck bounced around the Yorkton slot like it was cursed with a djinn, moving around in ways that didn't make sense to fans' eyes, then either out of harms way or somewhere Creig could easily stop it.
Meanwhile, Yorkton's game was completely the other way. When the Bombers couldn't generate goals on tons of chances, the Terriers went the other way and converted on their limited shots, though both their later goals came with controversy attached.
Late in the second, the Terriers extended the lead. Yorkton's Dustin Renas and Bomber Koen Senft battled on the far side while Terriers captain Jaron Desnoyers handled the puck, with both Renas and Senft colliding near the net and falling to the ice. When Desnoyers found teammate Aiden Knutson across the ice, Marquart tried to move across the crease to stop him, but Renas and Marquart got tangled up - with Marquart unable to move across and save a shot, Knutson scored on an empty net. The Bombers immediately cried foul and video on the Whitney Forum video board showed that Renas had interfered with Marquart prior to the goal, but the goal still stood. Despite the interference, Yorkton held a 2-0 lead into the third - and a late penalty by Flin Flon's Austin Montgomery-Parsons even gave the visitors a powerplay to start the third.
Flin Flon's offence kept up their fruitless onslaught in the third, putting on more than a shot per minute on Creig and company. The team's defence also had a solid night, keeping the Terriers to just five shots in the third, but none of the Bombers' shots turned out productive.
Yorkton got their third of the night later in the third, once again with an asterisk attached. Renas and Vinay Junek broke in on a two-on-one, with Renas finding Junek near the net. Junek, unable to get his stick on the pass, used his skate to kick the puck forward and it slid right into the Bomber net. While kicking a puck into the goal is illegal in almost any hockey rule book, it was totally kosher with the officials, who let the goal stand again to the consternation of the Bombers.
With little to show for their shots and possession advantage, the Bombers got frustrated late. That culminated with rookie Wyatt Stinton getting tangled up with Yorkton's Quinn Johnston in the Terrier zone and Stinton planting the D-man into the boards hard from behind - Johnston hit the boards head first. That set off a fracas while Johnston laid on the ice, awaiting treatment from Yorkton's trainer. Johnston would get up on his own power, skate to the bench and stick around for the remaining minute, while Stinton took a double-minor for checking from behind.
The Bombers would end up with their fourth straight loss and fifth loss in their last six games. Over those four losses, the Bombers have only scored four times. Tuesday's defeat was the first shutout the team has had since last season, when the Bombers took a 4-0 loss to Melfort in early January. It's the first time Flin Flon has been shut out in the Whitney Forum since Humboldt beat Flin Flon 2-0 in early 2023.
Creig got the credit for the shutout, getting a listed 50 saves on 50 Bomber shots. Marquart saved 18 shots on the night, continuing a start to the season with some of the most cursed luck a Bomber netminder has had in years. Marquart's record this season now drops to 1-5-1-0, with the Bombers scoring just 11 goals in his seven starts. Flin Flon has only given Marquart more than two goals of support once so far this season.
The win also pushes the Terriers back past Flin Flon in the league standings, putting them seventh with 12 points in 12 games. The Bombers are now tied for eighth in the league with 11 points in 13 games and a 5-7-1-0 record.
The Bombers will host the Humboldt Broncos at the Whitney Forum Oct. 25-26, with the team hosting the Northland Ford We Scare Hunger campaign for the Lord's Bounty Food Bank Oct. 25. Fans are asked to bring non-perishable food items and toiletries to the game to donate to the food bank.
