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 closed out the 2003-04 season with a 5-2 win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves Friday night, finishing with a record of 17-28-12-3. Donovan Hall opened the scoring with a power-play goal for La Ronge at 2:47 of the first period, but the Bombers took control and didn't look back from there. Derek Blais scored his 16th goal of the season at 7:27 on a power play, assisted by Jeff LaPointe and Joe Gori. The game was pretty tame until Kevin Burwell took exception to a cheap shot by Greg Copeland at 14:28, and a full line brawl broke out. Players paired off, including the goaltenders, and after the dust had settled and the debris cleared of the ice, a total of eight players and two goaltenders were gone from the game. Involved in the melee for Flin Flon were Kevin Burwell, Ryan Boak, Julian Matte, Eric Knutson, prospect Jody Minikakis and goaltender Francois Laverdiere. La Ronge brawlers were Greg Copeland, Brent Henley, Brian Lewis, Kirby Markowsky, Braden Olszewski and goaltender Kraig Kuczynski. All but Burwell and Copeland received game misconducts for their involvement. Flin Flon took the lead with a power-play goal 30 seconds after play resumed, as Joe Gori scored from Anatoliy Moshkovsky. Blais popped his second of the game at 11:47 of the second period to make it 3-1 for Flin Flon, with assists going to Moshkovsky and Daryl Fransoo. Riley Doell got La Ronge back in the game with a power-play goal at 9:35 of the third period, but two late goals by Flin Flon iced the win. After missing a glorious opportunity for his first SJHL goal, Kevin Burwell made good at 14:48, with Ryan Cosgrove and John Iron assisting. Anatoliy Moshkovsky scored the final goal of the season at 17:23, short handed and unassisted to make it a 5-2 game. With 19 penalty minutes in the third period, Jeff LaPointe jumped ahead of Melville's Derek Parker to take the league title for most penalty minutes with 320. The Bombers out shot the Ice Wolves 53-36 in the game, and scored two power-play goals on two chances, while the Ice Wolves scored both of their goals on the power play on eight tries with the extra attacker. The score was 1-1 when Laverdiere and Kuczynski got tossed, but shots were 12-6 in favour of La Ronge at that time. In relief, Paul Reimer made 21 out of 22 possible saves for the win, and Mike Carozza allowed four goals on 42 shots for the loss. It was the final SJHL game for seven Bomber players. Jeff LaPointe, Derek Blais, Derek Gallagher, Joe Gori, Anatoliy Moshkovsky, Julian Matte and Ryan Boak were all congratulated by their teammates after the game, as they will not be returning next season. The Bombers closed the book on 2003-04 with their awards ceremony last night.
