The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Kelly Carrington Staff Writer Friday marked another big win for the Bombers as they put the Notre Dame Hounds in their place with an 8-2 blowout. Not only did it make it five straight wins, but head coach and GM Mike Reagan said there were a few positives that came out of the game. "It was nice for a couple reasons," said Reagan. "...we need to start winning games at home and playing a lot better at home. Now, we've won two in a row." Another positive for the Bombers: the eight scorers Friday night. Hometown product Dillan (Pickle) McCombie scored his first SJHL goal. Seven other scorers were on the score sheet Ð along with rookie Cameron Blair, Jonathan Young, Steven Virtanen and David Roper. "We didn't have one guy who had two goals tonight," said the coach. "Eight different scorers is huge." This season, Reagan says he thought he had a team with some players who could score. "It's nice to see some (of those) guys contributing." Appreciation The fans showed their appreciation and pride as Pickle scored his first goal. The team built off the screaming fans and used that as momentum. "...anytime the crowd is loud, the guys get pretty jacked up about it," said Reagan. He went on to say that McCombie had been working hard for that first goal. "I know he was getting pretty frustrated that he hadn't buried a couple of opportunities," he said. "But it's always special when you get your first goal, especially when it's at home in front of your family and friends." Another positive for Reagan was the goaltending, as Randy Graham earned his second win of the season in as many games. "Randy gave us a real good opportunity in the first period. I thought that they could have been up a couple goals," he said. Of the Bombers' eight goals, three were on the power play. "Finally, I think our guys are coming out of a scoring slump," said the coach. "I think it was just a matter of time. "Finally, our power play got us some goals. That's a huge confidence booster for our guys on the power play to get three goals tonight for us." Preparation Heading into the weekend with four straight wins, the Bombers knew Friday's and Saturday's games would be important. With both the Notre Dame Hounds and the Battlefords North Stars behind them in the standings, the Bombers were going to have to be on top of their game. "Tomorrow is going to be a big game for us," Reagan said after Friday's game. With the North Stars also coming off a win from Friday, Reagan said Saturday's game could be scary. "These kind of games scare me. I hope that the guys don't come in thinking that it's going to be an easy win tomorrow night," he said. "We're going to have to be real focused early on and not get too high." Before the Bombers got on their hot streak, they endured a five-game losing skid. Reagan made it clear the team couldn't get too low. Now, the team is looking at the other side of the coin. "...we're in the opposite situation where we're on a five-game winning streak and we can't get too ahead of ourselves and think we're the SJHL champs," he said. The coach said it's important that the team keeps an "even keel" through their games. "..and make sure we show up tomorrow night," he said Friday. The coach wasn't too worried as he said the guys are "excited about the way things are going now." Direction Change The Bombers had been losing games as they would make a mistake and it would end up in the back of their net. Now the tables have turned. "We weren't getting any breaks early on and now we're starting to," Reagan said. "But, we've always say that you've got to create your own puck luck." Being able to generate some of their own "puck luck" has certainly benefitted the Bombers in recent games. "..I think that we're working together as a unit, better and better each game. It's exciting," said Reagan. The Game It was almost a scoreless first period until Bomber captain Ryan Fox earned a power play marker against Matthew Smidt with less than a minute to go. Starting off the second period, the Hounds tied the game with a goal against Graham on a power play. But the Bombers took off in the second period, making it 4-1 by intermission. Scoring for Flin Flon were Pickle, Virtanen and Young. The third period had four more goals from the Bombers compared to the Hounds' one goal. David Roper scored the first in the period, on a power play, to make it 5-1. An unassisted goal went to Blair less than a minute later. A goalie switch from the Hounds didn't make much difference as Devon Stillar kept things rolling with a power play goal before the Hounds scored their second of the game. Earning the last goal of the game, Andrew Johnson made it 8-2 for the Bombers.
