OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The Kam River Fighting Walleye last suffered the taste of the defeat on Jan. 27 in a 4-1 road loss to the Sioux Lookout Bombers.
On Wednesday night at the Norwest Arena, the Bombers became the first team to solve the defending Bill Salonen Cup champions in nearly three months.
Sioux Lookout jumped out to a 3-0 lead and withstood a comeback bid by the Fighting Walleye as they came away with a 5-3 triumph in Game 1 of the Superior International Junior Hockey League final.
“It was a heck of a game,” Bombers head coach Carson Johnstone said. “It was back and forth with a couple of big momentum swings and we’re obviously happy to come out on top.
“We told the guys that they weren’t going to go away, especially in the playoffs. We expected them to push back hard once we got up a couple of goals and they did that, but we were able to get the win by sticking to good habits.”
The winning goal came on a wild play with 86 seconds to go in the third period.
Fighting Walleye netminder Ashton Sadauskas was looking to clear the puck away from an onrushing Jonah Smith, only to see it bounce off the Bombers forward and trickle into the back of the net.
“I was stunned honestly,” Smith said. “I didn’t know how to react when the puck went in.
“I was just trying to do what I do best and that’s crash the net. They got a flukey goal on us earlier in the game so I guess the hockey gods felt like we deserved that one.”
Tait Howell rounded out the scoring with an empty-net marker just before the buzzer sounded to complete a three-goal performance.
“We’re all pretty pumped up after that one,” Howell said.
“The guys just came together with the same cause and purpose. When they let up, we went to work and did our job.”
Despite the loss, Fighting Walleye head coach Jessie Messier was pleased with his team’s performance after they fell behind 3-0.
“We kept fighting and got back to the style of hockey that we are accustomed to playing,” Messier said. “Once we got things going, that turned the tide of the game.
“We can’t wait 10 to 15 minutes to do that though. We need to get going right from the first puck drop.”
Edwin Liang, Matteo Salvatore and Riley Borody – who was playing in his first game since March 9 – provided the scoring for the hosts. Sadauskas turned aside 29 shots in a losing effort.
Nolan Palmer had the other goal for the Bombers, who received a 45-save outing from Jack Osmond.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven affair takes place at Norwest Arena Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
The series shifts to Sioux Lookout for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.