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.
The Flin Flon Bombers sealed the deal for the regular season as they clinched first place in the Bauer Conference Saturday night. Hosting the Battlefords North Stars in a double header weekend, the Bombers earned four points against the second place team. After Friday's 4-3 win, the Bombers were just two points away from earning first place for the rest of the regular season. They were able to overcome the Stars 5-2 the next night for the victory. "Our goal was to finish first overall this year," said head coach and GM Mike Reagan. "It's a little later than we thought Ð we were hoping to close it out a little earlier Ð but it made things very interesting" for this weekend. Friday night's first period against the North Stars was one of the best periods the Bombers played all season. They fought for the puck, completed checks, moved quickly and earned three goals. Reagan said he was undoubtedly impressed with the team's performance. "I was extremely happy with the way we executed our systems," he said. "We played well (and) our power play looked good tonight. "We should have had a couple more power play goals...but we got some timely goals." Going into the first intermission, the Bombers were up 3-1 and feeling good. The second period, though still good, was different from the first period. "Throughout a game, there is going to be ups and downs and momentum swings," said Reagan. The North Stars were able to pick up on that as they earned a goal for themselves. "You kind of get worried... when teams are getting breaks like that, you know," he said. Not many opportunities were given to the North Stars that period as the Bombers held them to eight shots, same as the first period. The Bombers earned their fourth, and final, goal of the game in the second period. With the score sitting at 4-2, the Bombers were looking for that fifth goal in the third period, but were unable to get past Kyle Birch again. The third period saw one goal for the North Stars, as the final score was 4-3. During the third period, timeouts were called. Reagan spoke to his team about "keeping our composure and making sure we're doing the little things right and (guarding) the middle of the ice." As well, the coach sent the message to get "pucks out and continuing to get pucks in deep." See 'Great' on pg. Continued from pg. "I thought we did a great job of chipping pucks out of our zone," he said. Highlights from Friday's game left Reagan looking at the atmosphere of the night. "People in Flin Flon have questioned this team since Christmas time Ð do we have this, do we have that, we're not playing that well. I think it showed that when we're put into a pressure situation, when there is a lot on the line, this team is going to show up," said Reagan. That proved to be true Saturday night as the team rose to the occasion and earned the two points to claim first place in the Bauer Conference. Saturday night's game saw the Bombers earn five goals against the North Stars Ð one in the first and four in the second. Playing one of the best weekends of hockey this season, Reagan said he was happy with the team's effort. Ryan Fox, who hadn't been on the ice in quite some time before joining the Bombers, was an asset to the team. "When he first got here, we knew it was going to take some time to get his legs under him," said the coach. "He hadn't played in such a long time. People were expecting Foxy to come out and just dominate. "(But) when you are away from the game and everyone has a little jump on you, it's pretty difficult." But the coach said kudos to the Flin Flonner as he as become one "of our best players" since Christmas time. Another big asset for the Bombers this weekend was goalie Matt Weninger Ð who was able to come up with some big saves. "Winny has been a rock for us all year," said Reagan. "We believe we have the best goaltender in the league and that's going to go a long way for you." Going into the weekend, the team knew there was a chance for them to claim first place. "It made this weekend very important for us," said Reagan. In terms of not clinching the title earlier in the season, he says "maybe it was a good thing for it to come down to this weekend." "...our guys were forced to show up and play a full 120 minutes and I thought, for the most part, we did." With only a few minutes out of the whole weekend where the Bombers took time off, Reagan said it was a successful weekend. "The boys proved to themselves and a lot of people that when there's something on the line that they can rise to the occasion." Friday night, captain Michael Young scored the first goal (Taylor Thiessen, Mike Rey) at 8:35 in the first period. Following that, Ben Bitz came through with a goal at 13:52 while Fox scored the last two goals of the game for the Bombers Ð the first at 16:06 of the first period (David Dykstra, Young) and the second at 8:49 on a power play in the second period (Deven Stillar, Thiessen). Saturday night saw goals from Rey (Matty Lecours, Dykstra) at 3:08 in the first period. Rey scored his second goal at 2:43 in the second (Lecours, Thiessen) followed by Stillar's power play goal at 6:38 (Thiessen). The team's fourth goal came from Alex Lamontagne (Tanner Korchinski, Lecours) at 7:39 in the second. And the team's final goal came from Thiessen (Rey, Young) on a power play at 17:56.
