Loss, win for league leading Bombers against third place Walleye

Tim Brody - Editor

A loss and a win for the Sioux Lookout Bombers this past weekend, as the SIJHL league leading Bombers welcomed the now third place Kam River Fighting Walleye to the Hangar (Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena) for a pair of matches, Jan. 26 and Jan. 27.
After falling to the visiting Walleye 5-4 in overtime last Friday evening, the Bombers were looking to turn things around in Saturday night’s contest, which they did with a 4-1 win.
Owen Riffel got the Bombers on the scoreboard early in the first period in last Saturday night’s game with a goal at 2:23. Kaden Veller and Connor Burke assisted. 
Owen Cotter added to the Bombers’ tally with an unassisted goal at 14:37 to give the Bombers a 2-0 lead.
Riffel picked up his second goal of the night at 11:30 in the second period off a Kaden Veller assist. 3-0 Bombers.
The Bombers kept up the pressure with a Blake Burke power play goal at 13:34. Dayvan Bull and Nolan Palmer picked up assists.
Kam River got on the scoreboard at 16:54 with a Daxton Lang power play goal, with assists going to Edwin Liang and Liam Bell. 
After a scoreless third period, the Bombers celebrated a 4-1 win over the Walleye.
Bombers Head Coach Carson Johnstone commented after Saturday night’s match, “I feel like last night we kind of waited and watched… tonight, we made it a priority from the beginning just to try to set the tone, set the pace, and play our game, rather than watch and wait. That happens sometimes where you just get back on your heels a little bit and we were kind of chasing the game all night long last night it seemed. Tonight, from early on, they got going and just kept their foot on the gas. Real proud of that. 
“Huge points for us…. We absolutely needed to make some ground up if we want to stay in first place. It’s going to be huge this year. Obviously having home ice in the playoffs is big. We’ve played well at home, so we’d like to keep that going and give ourselves the best chance in the playoffs.”
The Superior International Junior Hockey League’s regular season wraps up on March 16.
Bombers goalie Matthew Spencer-Dahl shared, “Good bounce back from the guys to battle through it, got a win. Two more points in the standings. 
Only letting in one goal during the evening and picking up the win in net, Spencer-Dahl said, “Boys did well in front of me, made it so I could see the puck, when they’re playing like that, it makes it easy on any goalie in the league.” 
Bombers forward Owen Riffel agreed with was great to bounce back from Friday night’s loss, “They showed us what they’ve got last night, so we came back, we knew what we had to do, and got the job done.”
He said the win and the two points that came with it were huge for the team. “It gives us a little bit of separation, but we can’t let off the gas. We have to keep it going and they’re right on our tail.”
 Nearly 450 people attended last Friday night’s match, with 375 people coming out to last Saturday night’s game.