By James Brohm
Oakville, ON – The tale of the tape gave the advantage to the Winker Flyers, both in experience and size, but the Bombers’s skill and tenacity made the game exciting from puck drop to the final buzzer. Approximately 200 Bombers faithful made the trip to Oakville, Ontario to support their favourite hockey team in their first Centennial Cup appearance.
Sioux Lookout kept Winkler at bay for the majority of the first period. SIJHL Goaltender of the Year and Playoff MVP, Jack Osmond stood on his head again and showed again how he earned those accolades. Each team had two power plays but only the Flyers were able to capitalize on their second player advantage. Winkler’s Dalton Andrew started off the scoring at 17:58 on the power play. Teams went into the intermission with the Flyers holding a 1-0 lead.
At 6:22 of the second period history was made as Cobe Delaney found Owen Riffel in front of the Flyers goal and Riffel made no mistake tapping the puck past netminder, Malachi Klassen. The Flyers were able to regain the lead less than 30 seconds later. Once again, Dalton Andrew found the back of the net for the Flyers. After 40 minutes, the Bombers still hade a one-goal deficit to makeup. Shots on net were 34-11 in favour of Winker at the end of two periods, but Jack Osmond kept his team in the game.
Winkler’s Dalton Andrew completed his hat trick at 3:52 of the third period. Trever Sanderson picked up a loose puck to the right of the Winkler net and banked it off Klassen to bring the Bombers within one goal again. However, Dalton Andrew sifted a puck through heavy traffic on a delayed penalty. His fourth goal of the night would give the Flyers a 4-2 lead that they would ride to the end of the game. Final shots on goal were 19 for the Bombers and 48 for the Flyers.
It was an excellent showing by the Bombers, proving they deserve to be at the national championship. The next game for the Sioux Lookout Bombers will be Saturday night at 6:30pm (Sioux Lookout time) against the host team, Oakville Blades.