By James Brohm
Sioux Lookout, ON – It was a big night at the Hangar. The Bombers donned a special set of jerseys for their Hockey is for Everyone game and the crowd of 392 hockey fans in attendance witnessed a special teams clinic by the Bombers. They were 3 for 6 on the powerplay, 87.5% on the penalty kill and added a shorty for good measure.
Both goaltenders were in fine form to start the game keeping the game tied 0-0 for the first period. Ethan Neitsch made 15 stops for the Miners while Jack Osmond saved all 11 shots that came his way.
The game’s first goal came 33 seconds into the second period. The play started in the neutral zone with some beautiful passing between Kaden Veller and Rylen Leroux. Leroux went right to net and caught a feed from Veller. After a couple whacks at the puck, he found the back of the net for a power play goal. Again, on the power play, Kaden Veller’s low point shot went off Neitsch’s pad and right to a wide-open Nolan Palmer on the doorstep who tapped in the puck for his 9th of the season at 11:53. Dayvan Bull wristed a puck through traffic and past the Miners’ netminder for the Bombers’ third power play goal of the frame. The Bombers finished the second period with a healthy 3-0 lead.
Red Lake finally got on the board at 11:23 of the third with a power play goal of their own. With a full two minutes of 5 on 3, they got to work early. Noah Tenney was looking for a back door play with Ethan Cerone but his pass went off a Bombers defender’s stick in the crease and behind Osmond. Ty Kirk restored the 3-goal lead for the bombers at 17:41. He was following up on a short-handed Owen Riffel breakaway. Riffel was initially denied by Ethan Neitsch but Kirk found the rebound and went bar down to pad the lead 4-1.
Jack Osmond, Dayvan Bull and Rylen Leroux were named first, second and third stars of the game, respectively. Shots in the game were fairly even with 26 for the Miners and 31 for the Bombers.
The teams will meet up again on Saturday night for the Bombers’ final regular season game of the year.