Bombers enter preseason with new faces, roster spots to fill

The 2022-23 edition of the Flin Flon Bombers is taking shape. Training camp took place last weekend and the team is moving into the exhibition season.

The Bombers opened the preseason with a 4-0 victory over Nipawin on the road August 29, but are unable to play a scheduled neutral site preseason game in Prince Albert against Kindersley Wednesday - an issue with the team's bus is reportedly the culprit.

A total of 59 players, an all-time high, hit the ice at camp - six goalies, 17 defenders and a whopping 33 forwards, with a 34th joining the club earlier this week. Another player reported to camp but has not yet dressed.

Late Tuesday night, the Bombers released a 34-man roster for preseason games. The full roster can be found at the bottom of this article.

By the time the SJHL finals come around this spring, it will be 30 years since a Bomber team last hoisted a championship trophy. It’s an honour that’s eluded head coach and general manager Mike Reagan through both his playing days with the Bombers and, so far, his time as the team’s longest-tenured head coach. Three trips to the finals in the last six years have led to three long, empty-handed bus rides home.

Reagan’s goal is, as it always has been, to snap the drought - and that may mean making deals during and after camp.

“I think there’s a lot of things that need to be ironed out and I think there’s always moves to be made,” said the coach.

“When we got shut down [when playoffs were cancelled in 2020] after we swept Humboldt, that was a very good team. To build that team, we made nine or 10 different moves throughout the season. Last year’s team, I think we had seven or eight moves to build that team. What we have now is not what we’ll end up with in January.”

This year’s Bomber roster will have some unexpected changes. Reagan says the team entered camp with spots open on the team’s bottom six for forwards and possibly one top six spot open, along with depth spots on defence and space in net.

“There’s been some good things, some not so good things… but that’s what main camp’s all about. Maybe if you’re a veteran, you’re ironing out some of the kinks. Maybe if you’re some of the new guys, you’re seeing some inconsistency, but that’s to be expected,” Reagan said.

“I think our approach is just let's see what they can do and then try to mould them into being a Bomber as we go through main camp, exhibition and into the start of the regular season.”

Several eligible returnees are either not ready to play yet or not making the trip north at all. The absence of Xavier Lapointe, last year’s SJHL defenceman of the year, was expected - Lapointe had an NCAA Division I deal lined up before he ever joined the Bombers. Less expected was the departure of Drew Kuzma, the team’s colossal centre who was a key cog in Flin Flon’s playoff machine. Over the offseason, Kuzma joined the Lindenwood Lions, becoming part of the college’s first-ever season in NCAA Division I with one more year of junior eligibility still on the clock.

The most unexpected departure came quietly in mid-August, when the team was informed that forward Jacob Vockler would not be coming back to Flin Flon, along with his younger brother, top recruit Zach. The two players will instead stay home in their native South Dakota. The circumstances of the Vocklers’ absence aren’t fully known - when asked, Reagan described it as “personal reasons” and didn’t provide further detail - but the Bombers will retain the brothers’ rights.

Jacob was a catalyst for the Bomber offence in last year’s playoffs, particularly in the first round. Vockler led the team in scoring against the Battlefords and scored a crucial overtime winner in Game 4 that tied the series and sent Flin Flon into a frenzy.

With those changes, the Bombers are down to five of their top 10 scorers. One of those five players, reigning Sherwood Division rookie of the year Jeremi Tremblay, has not yet hit the ice at camp, though he is in Flin Flon and at the rink, nursing an injury.

The offensive burden for returnees will go then to Jaxon Martens, Jaeden Mercier, Cole Duperreault, Tremblay and others, including defenceman Reece Richmond and rookies.

Goalies

Arguably the biggest question mark on the team is who will be in the Bombers’ crease - Flin Flon has no returning goalies this year, leaving two or more big spots in the lineup wide open.

After having one of the best seasons in recent Bomber history, Cal Schell aged out of junior hockey and headed to college. Casual observers may have assumed that the net would then go to Ben Montgomery, the team’s backup late last season and through playoffs, but Montgomery was released.

Reagan has, in the past, headed into camp with a starting goalie already in place while having a free-for-all open tryout for the backup spot - such competition led to Jacob Delorme making the team back in 2018 - but rarely have both spots been up for grabs.

“It’s going to be a battle for the net,” Reagan said.

Six goalies were in camp contending for a spot, with only one, Ohio-born Ryan Lehet, old enough to buy a beer in Manitoba when camp started. Lehet did not make it onto the Bombers' preseason roster.

The three 'tenders all have at least three years of junior hockey left on the clock. Connor Stojan and Kenneth Marquart came into camp aged 17, while Ethan Farrow turned 18 earlier this year . In all, the three goalies combine for just nine minutes of Canadian junior A crease time - all of which belong to Marquart, who had a brief stint in net last year with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees.

“We feel we have four or five guys here who are going to compete for that spot,” Reagan said.

“We obviously know how much Cal played in our success last year and it's tough to replace a guy that was your MVP, but every year you lose good players and it's an opportunity for someone else to step up. If someone doesn’t, then we’ll find someone that does.”

Recruits

Some of the club’s top recruits include 16-year-old hometown boy Joey Lies, Newfoundlander Liam Bridger, Minnesota high school star Brent Gulenchyn, northern Manitoba AAA star Cheechoo Lathlin and Alberta recruits like forward Mason Hartley, defender Aiden Chow and goalies Farrow, Marquart and Stojan. All of these players made it onto the Bombers' preseason roster.

When asked about who had impressed him so far at camp, Reagan mentioned only two players by name - Gulenchyn, who he praised for being a consistent player, and defender Lorenzo Bono, whose skill set and potential earned praise despite Reagan saying he also had rough edges.

“I think there's a lot of guys that are very close. We haven't really seen anybody that's really stood out. That's not a negative thing, per se - I just think that's how close the competition is between certain guys,” Reagan said.

The Bombers’ 20-year-old situation will also be one to watch. SJHL teams are only allowed to dress eight players born in 2002 this season and the Bombers have brought back eight from last year, along with bringing in two others - ex-WHLer Kaden Kohle and Alaska-born forward Silas Hughes. All 10 2002-born players will be playing in preseason

“They’ll have to figure that out themselves,” Reagan said.

“You can only keep eight 20-year-olds and there’s definitely a few ‘02s who won’t be here at the end of the year. I think it’s unfortunate since they’re all good players and we like them all, but the rules say you can only carry eight. It’s up to them to figure out who’s going to be one of those eight.”

Reagan often has tricks up his sleeve in the fall, having brought in players like all-star forward Alec Malo back in 2019 or players like Eric Sinclair or Zak Smith shortly after the start of the season in 2016 and 2021.

Does the coach have another ace ready? If he does, he’s not saying.

“Currently, no - but camp is also a week earlier than last year and in the past… I’ll just say that we’re looking,” said the coach.

“The players will determine who's a Flin Flon Bomber. Do we make the ultimate decision? Yeah, but the players are the ones who will really determine who makes it and who doesn't.”

Preseason roster