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.
A bad bounce spoiled the Flin Flon Bombers home-opener in a 4-1 loss Sunday evening. The game started with Gordon Mitchell, who served as the governor of the Flin Flon Bombers for 10 years, being recognized for his dedication and work for Junior hockey in Flin Flon. Over 1,100 fans packed Whitney Forum to watch their team start slow and head into their dressing room down 1-0. This happened after a minor defensive lapse resulted in a goal by Ice Wolves player Brett Medve, who scored high on goalie Dale Pettit's glove at 12:14. The second period was better defensively for the Bombers, who allowed 10 shots. "Well we thought that they kind of had a half-step on us for a good chunk of that (first) period," says Bomber coach Ryan Hoffman. "We thought they were just a little quicker to the puck than we were, and they seemed a little hungrier than we were. We talked about that and I thought we came out in the second with a better effort." The second also saw the Bombers pepper their former puckstopper Michael Pilote with 16 shots, but couldn't get a goal. See 'Our' P.# Con't from P.# "It's tough to see a goalie like Pilote stand on his head when we traded him away last year," says Blake Rolston, the Bombers' forward. "É he seems to play pretty good against us every time. We'll see what happens next time we play them." On one play in the first, Pilote may have had luck on his side as captain Clayton Geiger cut to the net and nearly beat him, but was unable to get the rebound as his stick was tied up by an Ice Wolves' defenseman. Pilote finished the game making 41 saves in a 4-1 victory. It wasn't a surprise where Hoffman was disappointed. "I guess our lack of finish, we had 42 shots on goal and we scored one goal," explains Hoffman. "I thought our powerplay was better than it was a couple nights earlier, we were creating more opportunities on the powerplay. The inability to finish on a couple more chances was disappointing." Fortunately the Bombers weren't blanked on home-ice as Dalton Pajak scored on the powerplay which went 1-11. Some of the players who played well for the Bombers were Keelan Cook, who goes for the simple play in his zone by banking pucks off the boards. Hoffman felt he's been very steady in the first two games. "I thought, he's really not getting flustered out there," the Bombers coach commented. "He's a raw rookie back there and I thought he's handled himself very well." Hoffman was also pleased with Ron Marcoux, who buzzes the rink pressuring opponents. Hoffman feels he was good trying to create turnovers and pressure in the offensive end. "I thought Jared Kissick worked very hard and was excellent on the penalty kill again for us and I thought Blake Rolston played pretty well," Hoffman added. "Blake is what he is, he's very consistent night in night out, he's an up and down guy and very responsible defensively." The downer during the game happened in the third when the Ice Wolves scored three goals, one being an empty-netter. It was the 3-1 goal that made it difficult for the Bombers to make any kind of comeback. "They kind of got a couple lucky bounces on their third one that rattled in there on a shot that was going well wide of the net," says Hoffman. Despite some turnovers, Hoffman felt that his team "gave Dale a pretty easy night back there." "I'm not gonna say anything about that," says Hoffman on Pettit's performance, as his goalie made 23 saves on 26 shots.
