Each hockey season has a few dates that coaches mark on their calendar with a big red circle, but none are bigger than the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
That’s the day that all junior A teams in Canada have to finalize their roster for the rest of the season.
Teams making a push for the playoffs are usually looking for one or two puzzle pieces to push them over the top. The usual key players are a top line forward or a top pairing defenceman.
Other popular adds are a veteran with playoff experience and a good back-up goaltender.
At any given point in the season, coaches are looking back at their last five to 10 games to give the best indication of how the team is doing.
Leading up to the deadline, the Bombers were the hottest team in the SJHL, with nine wins in their previous 10 games. Their only loss came on the road, their last game before the Christmas break. Essentially a write-off. In fact, their record is 18-6-0-2 in their last 26 games. The first 12 games? A distant memory.
So what does the hottest team in the league do at the trade deadline? Virtually nothing.
I wasn’t surprised to turn on my laptop on Jan. 11 to find that the Bombers were practically silent on the deadline. They moved a couple of players for future considerations and a draft pick, but didn’t add a single player.
The scouting report on the Bombers ahead of the break was that they might benefit from adding those two missing pieces – a top defenceman and a top forward.
“They had to be guys we were familiar with and character was number one for us,” said head coach Mike Reagan about his team’s strategy at the deadline. “We have a great group of guys and didn’t want to mess the chemistry up by making a trade just to make a trade. We also felt that if nothing was available and we weren’t able to make a deal, that we were fine.”
The Bombers did make offers on two forwards, but at the end of the day those teams decided to hang onto their guys.
Last weekend was a significant one for the Bombers. They scored six goals in back-to-back games against the Melfort Mustangs, winning both games of a home-and-home series.
It was the first time all season that the Mustangs lost back-to-back games in regulation. Saturday was only the third time all season that Melfort lost at home, and only their second home loss in regulation.
The Bombers were sizzling before Christmas, and they’ve picked up right where they left off since returning from the break. There is no reason that coach Reagan shouldn’t feel confident with his current group of players.
When a team is winning, everyone is excited about showing up at the rink, and there isn’t a team in the league that should be more excited than the Flin Flon Bombers.
