The Flin Flon Bombers emptied the tank and were one goal away from bringing the series back to Flin Flon for game 7 on Wednesday against the Weyburn Red Wings in their SJHL Semi Final.
Game 6 went down last night at Crescent Point Place in Weyburn and the Bombers got off to a great start when local product Ryder Mucha opened the scoring just 5 minutes into the opening period.
Mucha was able to locate a loose puck in front of Wing netminder Angelo Zol and flipped a back hander just out of his reach to give the Bombers the important first goal.
Weyburn responded in the second period with a couple of specialty team goals including a powerplay goal from Max Chakrabarti, when he fired a seeing eye shot in front of a screened Matthew Kieper to tie the game.
The Wings Lucas Schmid then picked up a Bomber turn over less than a minute later and went down the ice short handed and beat Matthew Kieper low stick side to give the Wings their first lead 2 to 1.
The game would stay tied until Bomber local product Joey Lies wired a rebound over Zol's left shoulder just after a powerplay expired and we were all even at 2.
The rest of regulation solved nothing and we would get overtime for the first time in the series. The way both goalies were playing I thought we might be in for a long overtime session.
I was wrong and the Wings ended things and the series when defenseman Dallen Oxelgren fired a shot from the blue line that was tipped by Josh Sale and beat Matthew Kieper for the overtime winner.
That sent the 1400 plus at Crescent Point Place into a frenzy and the Wings would knock off the Bombers in 6, winning the SJHL Semi Final 4 games to 2.
This will put Weyburn into the SJHL Finals for the first time since 2012 and the first time they have beaten the Bombers in a playoff series since 1985. Good luck to the Wings who will head off to Melfort for the Canterra Seeds Cup starting on Saturday.
Both goalies were simply incredible with Matthew Kieper doing everything he could to get the Bombers back to the Forum for game 7 on Wednesday. He stopped 39 out of 41 and Angelo Zol was equal to the task with 41 saves on 43 shots.
Despite last night's loss it was another good year for the Maroon and White who finished second overall with 38 wins and 81 points and that impressive 26 game unbeaten streak that started October the 30th and went til February the 4th.
One way or another they always seem to make it to the final 4.
Good luck to all the graduating 20 year olds including Keefe Gruener, Leighton Carruthers, Anthony Piccininno, Ryder Ringor, Carter Cormier, Liam Hunks, Matthew Kieper and 4 year Bombers Captain Cole Tanchuk and Kylynn Olafson.
It was great to see Olafson suit up for the last couple of playoff games after a tough year battling injuries.
Congratulations to the coach's, board, volunteers, sponsors and the best fans in the entire SJHL in helping shape this franchise into one of the best places to play Junior Hockey in the country.
Well Done.
