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Kelly Carrington Staff Writer The Flin Flon Bombers earned their first shutout of the season as Andy Desautels stopped the Battlefords North Stars in their tracks this past Saturday night. Coming off a 6-3 win the night before over the Bombers, the North Stars were denied their second win as the Maroon and White blanked the visitors 2-0. The Bombers had a rocky start to the weekend as they came out with a 'terrible' start in Friday's game, according to head coach and GM Mike Reagan. Down 2-0 early in the first game, the Bombers relied on the efforts of one line _ resulting in a downfall for the team. 'I thought that we didn't come out with a lot of energy. To be honest, I thought the start of Friday night's game was terrible,' said Reagan. Brandt Weldon got Flin Flon on the board Friday with the team's lone power play goal, coming at 15:41 of the first period. Down 2-1 at the end of the first 20 minutes of play, the Bombers stepped into what has been their downfall all season. 'The second period has been our worst period of the season and I thought it kind of went down hill from there,' said the bench boss. Earning three more goals against the Bombers in the second, the North Stars made it 5-2 by the end of the period. Konrad Litke scored the Bombers' second-period goal, with help from Jesse Mysiorek and Greg Wiwcharuk. 'I was disappointed in our effort in such a big game,' said Reagan, as the North Stars sat in second place of the Bauer Conference during the weekend games. The Bombers welcomed the North Stars after coming home from a 4-3 overtime win in Humboldt the Wednesday before. Coming off a big win, as the Broncos sat in first place of the Bauer Conference, where the Bombers sit in fifth, Reagan hoped to see a trend starting. 'We're really trying to put together a couple wins here,' he said. But that wasn't the case as the North Stars scored their final goal of Friday's game less than two minutes into the third period, making it 6-3. Dillan McCombie scored the Flin Flon's last goal of the game. 'I thought the momentum that we carried from Humboldt would carry over into Friday night's game and it didn't,' said Reagan. 'So I was really disappointed into Friday night's effort.' Following a roughly 45-minute team meeting, with questions that included whether it is really too much to ask for the team to play a full 60 minutes, the Bombers pulled their socks up for Saturday night. 'Commitment' 'We talked a lot about the commitment that it takes to win in this league and especially this time of the year,' said Reagan. Answering plenty of questions and tabling discussions, the coach says the meeting after the 6-3 loss 'wasn't intense, it was merely talking to the guys about their level of commitment.' The meeting hit home for the Bombers as they scored the lone two goals of the game in the first period Saturday. Having returned from an injury on Friday, Dylan Balaski lit the lantern at 15:19, with help from James McNulty and Tanner Clark. Then, on a power play, McNulty scored the final goal of the game at 18:55. Firing off nearly the same amount of shots throughout the game _ 35 from Battleford and 36 from Flin Flon _ the teams were both on for the rest of the game. 'It was just intense,' said Reagan. 'I thought it was a great gritty effort from our guys.' Earning their first shutout of the season, the coach commends not only Desautels, but the team as well. 'For us to shut out a team like Battleford, I'm pretty proud of the guys,' said Reagan. 'We've given up a lot of goals since Christmas and for us to get that kind of effort defensively is key. Obviously Andy played really well, but I thought our guys did a great job in front of him.' Ending on a high note and splitting the weekend series with the North Stars, the Bombers took away two wins from their last three games. 'Hopefully the guys gained a lot of confidence from the game and understand they are capable of beating anybody. In the last three games, we've beat the top two teams in the SJHL right now,' said Reagan. 'It just proves to the guys that we're capable of doing it, but we've got to work hard and make a commitment if we're going to do it.' The Bombers have three games remaining in the regular season, the first being tonight as they visit the Melfort Mustangs. Looking to keep things simple for the end of the season, the Bombers are focusing their attention on the playoffs. 'We know that we're not going to be able to get first place (in the Bauer Conference), so our focus has to be not on where we're going to finish in the standings, but how well we're going to (play),' said Reagan. The SJHL regular season ends Feb. 21 with the playoffs to begin shortly thereafter. If the playoffs were to begin today, the Bombers and La Ronge Ice Wolves would battle for the final place in the Bauer Conference playoffs. With too few points to catch up, the Melfort Mustangs will not be a contender for the playoffs, nor will the Kindersley Klippers in the Sherwood Conference.
