Flin Flon will be very well represented at this year's SJHL/MJHL Showcase. A total of 10 players and the team's head coach will head to Winnipeg as part of the event.
All of the Bombers’ top seven scorers and both goalies made teams for the upcoming showcase, which will be held in Winnipeg at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex Jan. 30-31. Both the SJHL and MJHL will send three teams of players - two of the league's top under-20 players and one of the league's best under-18 players.
On the league’s under-18 showcase roster, two Bombers made the cut. Goalie Kenny Marquart was one of two goalies named to the squad, while Koen Senft will also be part of the crew heading to Winnipeg.
Senft has 23 points in 31 games in his rookie season in the SJHL. Despite still being eligible for under-18 AAA, the Bombers' youngest player has played a big role on the country's top junior A team.
Marquart has the second-best statistics of any SJHL goalie this season, sporting a 1.99 goals-against-average, a .928 save percentage and a 9-0-1-0 record through 11 games. Marquart also has a pair of shutouts this season.
Six teams are sending players for each under-20 team. Eight Bomber players will suit up for one team - five forwards, two defenders and a goalie.
Harmon Laser-Hume will be one of two netminders for the team, joining Nipawin’s Damon Cunningham, while Bombers will make up almost half of the team’s forwards - Carter Anderson, Justin Lies, Anthony Piccininno, Alexi Sylvestre and Jacob Vockler will all head south. The top D pairing for the team is also an all-Flin Flon group, with both Noah Houle and Adam McNutt making the cut.
Laser-Hume is the SJHL's top goalie statistically this season sporting a 20-2-1-0 record, a 1.95 goals-against-average and a .936 save percentage. The Creston, B.C. native, now in his third season in the league, leads the SJHL in all major statistic categories while playing the fifth-most of any SJHL goalie.
Anderson joined the Bombers from the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders earlier this year and has emerged as the SJHL's top sniper, scoring 27 goals and 41 points in 24 games. He and Battlefords North Star Kian Bell are the only players with more than 10 games played this season who have scored more than a goal per game. The Thompson-born Anderson is playing in northern Manitoba for the first time since 2018, when he was 13.
Lies is the Bombers' captain and the leading scorer in the SJHL, having 28 goals and 53 points in 32 games. Flin Flon's very own returned to play for his hometown team this year after four years in the WHL and has been nearly unstoppable since, playing with his younger brother Joey for the first time in their hockey careers.
Piccininno arrived in training camp for the Bombers last fall and immediately made an impact with his smooth skating, high speed and take-no-prisoners forechecking. The Toronto native, playing his first season of hockey outside his home province, has 23 points in 27 games, including 11 goals.
Sylvestre is one of three Bombers with an NCAA Division I scholarship in place - he's slated to play for Bemidji State once his time in Flin Flon ends. Sylvestre is second in team scoring and fourth in the league with 49 points in 33 games, scoring 19 goals. Originally from Ste-Martine, Quebec, Sylvestre was tied for the Bombers' scoring lead in last year's playoffs with 15 points in 16 games.
Vockler is one of three Bombers who have been with the team through both their recent runs to the SJHL finals. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native has 135 points in 129 games in maroon and white, giving him more points than any other active Bomber. This season, Vockler is tied with Sylvestre for fourth in league scoring and second in team scoring with 49 points in 32 games, scoring 17 times.
Houle arrived in Flin Flon last year in a trade with his former team in Ontario, bringing him to the same team his brother, former Bomber Donavan Houle-Villeneuve, made his name with. Since then, Houle has been arguably the league's best defenceman this season, leading all SJHL players in assists with 36 in 31 games and leading all defencemen with 44 points, good enough for sixth in the league scoring race. The Montreal product is committed to join the Lindenwood Univ. Lions next season, where he will join former Bombers Drew Kuzma and Jaeden Mercier.
A WHL veteran, McNutt became a Bomber after a blockbuster trade with La Ronge brought his rights to the Flon in the fall. Since then, McNutt has solidified himself as one of the league's best all-around defenders. The Saskatoon-born 20-year-old has 11 points in 22 games with the bomb squad.
Bomber head coach and general manager Mike Reagan will also coach the same team six of his players have been named to. The SJHL's longest-tenured coach and the Bombers' all-time record holder for most games behind the bench, Reagan has almost 600 victories behind the Bomber bench between regular season and playoffs.
