The Flin Flon Bombers streak of 26 games without a regulation loss came to an end in Nipawin last night.

 

The Bombers who have owned the Hawks the last several years had beaten Nipawin in 17 straight games heading into last night.

 

You could tell right off the hop that this was a different Nipawin team who came out and used an aggressive forecheck,  and didn't allow any of the Bombers to get on track offensively.

 

After a scoreless first period, Nipawin would open things up  when their leading scorer Carter Anderson buried a shot right off the faceoff early in the second which ended up being the game winner.

 

Mason Karakochuk would score his 12th and former Bomber Connor Ryan his 6th on the powerplay for a little insurance.

 

Gage Roberts made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season but was hardly tested. Nipawin did an excellent job keeping the Bombers away from their net and controlled the play all night.

 

Bomber netminder Kenny Marquart stopped 29 of 32 and suffered the loss.

 

Despite last night's loss,  you have to admire what the Bombers have accomplished this year going over 3 months without a regulation loss is pretty impressive. Their last regulation loss was in Melfort on October the 30th.

 

Flin Flon was in tenth place at that time and with their impressive run have been able to move up to second overall at 29-10-3-1. Nipawin will improve to 9-28-3-2 and are now just 3 points behind Notre Dame for 11th overall.

 

The Hawks have all kinds of confidence now with wins over the Mustangs and Bombers in a little over a week.

 

The Bombers will try to shake off last night's loss and prepare for the Estevan Bruins who make their way to the Whitney Forum for a pair of games this weekend. The Bruins have been playing better hockey since the coaching change and just beat one of the top teams in the league in Weyburn.

 

Puck drop both Friday and Saturday is 7:30 and Saturday's game will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.