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 are now four points behind the Nipawin Hawks for the final playoff spot in the Dodge Conference. Flin Flon's loss to Kindersley on Saturday night, coupled with Nipawin's win over the Klippers on Sunday, leaves the Bombers on the outside looking in, at least for now. While all the bounces seemed to go Flin Flon's way on Friday night's 5-2 win over Kindersley, it was the Klippers who received the bounces on Saturday night. "Saturday, we got off to a bit of a slower start," said coach Ryan Hoffman. "Frank (Francois Laverdrere) would probably like to have the second goal back, and they got some momentum there. We got the bounce on Friday night off the glass, and they got the bounce off the boards on Saturday night. You can complain about it all you want, but we certainly weren't complaining on Friday when we got the bounce." Once the Bombers were down 3-1, there was little fight left in them. The Klippers played a much better game on Saturday, after a flat game on Friday, causing the teams to split the weekend series. "At the very least we wanted to get a split," said Hoffman. "We're trying to climb closer to that .500 mark, so to get the split was important, but we passed up an opportunity to catch Nipawin, and that was unfortunate." Flin Flon will be in La Ronge on Wednesday night to play the Ice Wolves. The Bombers have not lost to the Wolves yet this season, with two wins and three ties to date. This will be Flin Flon's last game against La Ronge until the final two games of the season in March. The Wolves are coming off a huge weekend series against the mighty Melville Millionaires, where sensational goaltending earned them a tie on Friday night. "Obviously their goaltender played very well," said Hoffman. "We're going to have to make sure we bring our 'A' game and are ready to go on Wednesday. We have played La Ronge very tough all year Ð we haven't lost to them all season. But we can't be looking at the standings and thinking that any night is going to be an easy night. We've got to go to war on Wednesday and make sure we get two points." Flin Flon will travel to Humboldt for games on Friday and Saturday. The Bombers have played the Broncos very well this season, with two wins and one tie in three games at the Whitney Forum. This will be Flin Flon's first trip to Humboldt, where they can expect a real battle with the Dodge Conference leaders. "They weren't very happy with how things went last game," said Hoffman. "I expect it to be a very physical battle against Humboldt."
