Team Maroon were the victors in an impromptu 3-on-3 tournament amongst Bomber players Friday night, hoisting the "Stanley bucket" in celebration after beating all comers.
After Nipawin was unable to travel to Flin Flon for the two teams' scheduled game due to extreme cold weather, the Bombers held an intrasquad tournament to stay sharp. Each game was 10 minutes in length, with three teams made up of the squad's players facing each other for bragging rights.
The first game of the night saw Team White play Team Black - players wore the team's maroon home, white away and black alternate jerseys to denote their teams. The teams played a short round-robin, then a semi-final game before a winner
Game one saw the scoring open up with Team Black's Pierce Yakimchuk bearing down on Harmon Laser-Hume and scoring, making it 1-0 Team Black. Anthony Piccininno and Alexi Sylvestre extended that lead by catching their opponents off-guard and setting up a tap-in for Sylvestre, then Jacob Vockler dangled out both Riley Niven and Laser-Hume to make it 3-0. Sylvestre almost added a buzzer-beater, but Team Black won the first game 3-0.
Team Black headed off for a rest before the second game, between Team Maroon and Team White. White got off to a good start, with Joey Lies coming in on a breakaway and almost scoring, but that was stopped in its tracks with a goal for new Bomber Anthony Bax, scoring for Team Maroon on a rebound.
Team Maroon almost shot themselves in the foot with a too-many-men penalty, leading to a Team White penalty shot by Jerome Gilbert, but that was stopped by Laser-Hume, giving Team Maroon a chance to go back the other way, leading to Carter Anderson capitalizing on a give-and-go with Noah Houle to make it 2-0 Maroon.
The floodgates stayed open for Team Maroon, with Houle getting upended by a defender but still managing to set up Reid Arberry for a coup de grace goal to make it 3-0. Kylynn Olafson almost got Team White on the board with a gimme near the net that bounced over his stick, but Maroon put it out of reach with a blazing one-timer by Bax.
Joey Lies put a clapper by Laser-Hume to get Team White on the board, but the final score would be 4-1 for Team Maroon.
Team White headed off for a short rest while Team Maroon and Team Black finished off the round robin. Houle opened the scoring by circling around the zone and getting a quick snap-shot in the net, giving Maroon a 1-0 lead. From there, it was a goaltending duel for most of the remaining time, with almost every chance, even breakaways, stopped by Laser-Hume and Marquart. Alexi Sylvestre tried a between-the-legger? Stopped. Dawson Karol, on a point-blank chance? Stopped. Two on ones? Nope. Two on nones? Nuh-uh.
Finally, Maroon got on the board late to ice the win, with Koen Senft scoring two late goals to ensure a 3-0 victory.
Team Maroon, having gone 2-0, would enter the tournament final, while Team White and Team Black would battle it out to see who would play them.
Team White got off to a good start, with Justin Lies putting a shot top shelf where mama keeps the jam, giving White a 1-0 lead early on. Luke Lepper extended that lead by going in on a two-on-one, keeping, firing and scoring.
Team Black came on strong late, with Jacob Vockler getting a late goal to bring them within one, then, in the final moment with Laser-Hume pulled and a four-on-three advantage, Adam McNutt tied it up with a quick shot with 10 seconds to go.
That goal forced overtime - sudden death, as long as it takes. OT took almost as long as the game itself, but it ended with Team Black picking up the victory. Vockler stepped into the zone and called game with an off-the-post-and-in blast, giving Black a 3-2 win, ending Team White's night.
Team Black stayed on the ice and faced a fresh-legged Team Maroon in the final and the maroon squad kept up pressure from start to finish. In a longer, 12-minute game, Maroon scored first, with Houle feeding Anderson and Anderson blasting the puck home. Laser-Hume kept it from being a 2-0 Maroon lead by saving a two-on-none chance by Karol and Bax, sending the puck away.
Team Black tied the game with a breakaway goal by Piccininno and had a chance to take the lead, when Anderson was called for a slash on a play that knocked Yakimchuk's stick from his hands. Yakimchuk had a breakaway chance that would have given Black a lead, but was stopped by Marquart.
Soon after, Anderson made it 2-1 Maroon after going for a skate and solving Laser-Hume. That lead would stand for the rest of the game, with Black pulling the goalie again but being unable to tie the game up. Matt Egan, playing his first hockey game since his cancer scare, had a chance to tie the game on a one-timer, but was stopped. Maroon added an empty netter by Liam Bridger to end the tournament with a 3-1 win.
Team Maroon players celebrated the win with their teammates, with Bridger picking up the white plastic trash bin from the bench and hoisting it up high like the Stanley Cup - each Maroon player took a victory lap hoisting the "Stanley bucket" before the winners posed for photos.
The Bombers are back in SJHL action again next week, when they play a rare Saturday/Sunday doubleheader at the Whitney Forum against the Yorkton Terriers Jan. 20-21.
