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.
Losing 8-2 never sounds good. If you ask Flin Flon Bombers coach-GM, Doug Stokes, he'll tell you it wasn't that bad. "Game two was a very very different hockey game," explained Stokes on Monday about the loss to the Battlefords' North Stars in Battlefords. "The score indicates it was 8-2-but it wasn't an 8-2 game. The turning point in the game was when we had a breakaway with three minutes left in the period and it was 3-1 at the time. If we score there-we go into the third 3-2. Instead they come up the same sequence-we don't score-they score and it's 4-1." Stokes also felt that Battlefords' got a couple of bounces and some goals that "weren't classics by any means." While the Bombers managed to go 2-for-8 on the man advantage, that was all the offense they could create despite having chances. While it took Tyler Beachell time to contribute offensively against the Melfort Mustangs, he lit up for two goals and four points as the Bombers hung on to win 6-5 in game one after taking a 6-3 lead into the final period. Beachell even had his hat-trick goal disallowed. The Bomber led 5-1 at one point, but the North Stars clawed their way back with goals from Darren Delainey, Don Kerfoot, who scored two, Riley Lang and Derek Keller. Along with Beachell's two-goal effort, Richard Dupre opened the scoring. Also scoring were Dalton Pajak, who also had four assists, as well as Andrew Leslie and Brett Needham. Bombers forward and former North Star, Dennis Kubat, had his six-game point streak snapped in game one. Everything was going good for the Bombers until they decided they didn't need more offense. Unfortunately, that allowed the Stars back in. "I thought we laid back a little bit," Stokes said. "For some reason players tend to think with a couple goal lead in the period that you can play the clock. I thought we definitely were sitting back a little bit in the third period and it almost cost us." "We kind of came out a little confident in the third period," said Bombers forward, Andrew Leslie. "I think that's what happened. We got out a little confident and cocky and didn't think we had to do what we had to do anymore." What did impress Stokes was the power play. During game one, it went 3-for-7 and then 2-for-8 in game two for a total of 5-for-15. That equals to 33 per cent. Their penalty kill went 9-for-12 for a 75 per cent success rate. After helping get the Bombers past the Mustangs, goalie Zane Kalemba started both games and faced 73 shots, allowing 13 goals. His counterpart, Stars goalie Jonathan Laniel, was pulled during game one and put back in and faced 60 shots over two games, allowing seven.
