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The La Ronge Ice Wolves won 3-2 over the Flin Flon Bombers to finish the season. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)
season over

Ice Wolves conclude season with win against Bombers

Mar 3, 2019 | 12:39 PM

Mel Hegland Uniplex was the place to be Saturday in La Ronge as the Ice Wolves forced the Flin Flon Bombers into a shoot-out to win their final game of the season.

“It was a spirited game,” said Interim-Head Coach Gaelan Patterson. “Our guys battled for 60 minutes. We’ve been looking for that all season and it showed. We ended up with a win.”

The Bombers scored the first goal at 13:17 in the first period, but the Ice Wolves managed to tie the game quickly with a goal by Jordan Mish at 17:29. With only minutes left, the Bombers scored at 18:09 to finish the period ahead. The only goal in the second period came from the Ice Wolves’ Antonio Di Paolo about six minutes in.

With a third goal by Zach Bannister early in the third period, the Ice Wolves led until the Bombers scored a third goal with only minutes on the clock to force the match into overtime, which went scoreless.

With Bannister making the lone goal in the shoot out, the Ice Wolves marked their 14th win of the season.

“We had some adversity too,” Patterson said. “The refs were not necessarily on our side at all times there, so we played through that and it was good to see.”

With 825 fans in attendance, the second largest crowd of the season since the home opener, he noted the team was able to thrive from all the positive energy. He added the atmosphere was better than normal and players were able to build on that. With the Ice Wolves not making the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs for the third time in a row, they finish the season with a 12-44-1-1 record.

Interim-Head Coach Gaelan Patterson enters the dressing room at the end of the game. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Last month, the Ice Wolves board of directors decided former head coach Evan Vossen would not be returning for the 2019-2020 season. Since the announcement, Patterson has taken over Vossen’s duties and he said it’s been a good experience so far. He mentioned he stopped playing professional hockey not long ago and he wants to transition to the coaching side of the game.

“I came back home to where I grew up to start my coaching career, because that was something I really wanted to get into, especially after playing,” Patterson said. “Things just didn’t really work out here as we thought they would, and a change was made and I’m ready to step up. I feel like I’m prepared to do that.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno