WEYBURN, Sask. — A disastrous second period proved to be the undoing for the Weyburn Red Wings, who suffered a 3-0 shutout loss to the Flin Flon Bombers on Wednesday night at the Whitecap Resources Centre.
The matchup marked the first time the two teams have met since the Bombers eliminated the Red Wings in Game 7 of the SJHL semifinal last season. The Bombers leveraged their size and physical play to stymie Weyburn's offensive efforts.
After a scoreless opening frame, the Bombers exploded for three goals in the middle period. Ryan Ulmer opened the scoring at 2:01, capitalizing on assists from Kyle Marsden and Keaton Lesperance.
Rhett Ewen then took over the remainder of the period, scoring his first goal at 9:57 with help from Braydon Bruce and Ryder Mucha. He struck again late in the frame with 90 seconds left on the clock, burying a setup from Jared Miskiw to give the visitors a commanding 3-0 advantage.
Weyburn assistant coach Chad Wilchynski acknowledged the team's sluggish start against a tough opponent.
"Typical Flin Flon team; big, strong, dumping it in," Wilchynski said. "I felt just that our compete level wasn't there the first two periods as it was in the third. It was probably our toughest test yet this year."
Flin Flon goaltender Finn Werner was impeccable between the pipes, turning aside all 33 shots he faced to secure the shutout victory. Werner was particularly busy in the third period, stopping 15 shots as Weyburn desperately tried to mount a comeback.
At the other end of the rink, Red Wings rookie netminder Ethan Berard made 32 saves on 35 shots over 59 minutes of action.
A major hurdle for the Red Wings was navigating the neutral zone. Wilchynski noted the difficulty in breaking through the Bombers' defensive strategy, which frequently featured four players stacked across the blue line.
"We couldn't find the gaps in the neutral zone to find open spaces to create some middle lane drive and get to the net," Wilchynski explained. "I just felt that we didn't get to the middle enough and then we weren't getting the pucks to the wall to gain the entry as good as we typically do."
Despite the offensive struggles, Weyburn's penalty-killing units delivered a strong performance. The Red Wings took eight minors, and successfully killed all seven of Flin Flon's power-play opportunities. The Bombers, meanwhile, shut down all four of Weyburn's chances with the man advantage.
Wilchynski praised the team's third-period effort, noting the squad drew on lessons from last year's tough series against the Bombers. He emphasized that the team can't let Flin Flon bully them or push them around.
The Red Wings will look to bounce back and find the win column this weekend when they host the Nipawin Hawks on Friday, and then the Yorkton Terriers on Sunday.
