More than a decade later, Dalton Pajak can still vividly recall his Flin Flon Bombers’ playoff experience.
In 2006, Pajak helped the Bombers make it into the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League post-season for the first time since 2001. It was one of the highlights of the BC product’s season and a half with the team.
“We came together and had a pretty decent team. I remember going to game seven in the first round of the playoffs with Melfort,” said Pajak, who was in his 20-year-old season at the time. “A bunch of Bomber fans came down to Melfort for the game. We won and the Bomber fans jumped the glass and ran out on the ice to celebrate. There were a couple moose legs on the ice. It was a fun series. We ended up winning the first game of the second round series versus Battleford but ran out of steam and lost that series.”
Originally from Blackcreek, BC, Pajak is back living on Vancouver Island. He and his wife, Kristina, and two-year-old son Carson reside in Courtenay. He is a professional geologist working in water resource exploration and groundwater monitoring at Waterline Resources.
“I like working outdoors and working on projects across western Canada,” Pajak said. “I have been able to travel all over BC, Alberta, Yukon, and Alaska for my job.”
Pajak’s first SJHL team was Yorkton. On the trade deadline day in 2005, he remembers the coaches telling the squad they were happy with the roster and did not to expect any trades.
“Then later that night
I got the call.”
Pajak, then 19, was traded with 18-year-old defenceman Blake McCullough for 20-year-olds Andrew Skrabek and Bob Graham. Two days later Pajak and McCullough headed to Flin Flon.
“We arrived on a game night and it was my first time in the Whitney Forum,” Pajak said. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Blake and I ended up billeting with Karen and Pickle Petrychko. They were great billets.”
After his junior career, Pajak played hockey and studied earth sciences at Vancouver’s University of British Columbia. One of the best parts of playing at UBC, Pajak said, was flying to road games while other teams travelled by bus.
“Other schools were jealous we got to fly. I really enjoyed playing in the CIS (now called U Sports). There are some very good teams. It’s a competitive league.”
