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.
Friday's loss was out of their minds, as far as the Flin Flon Bombers were concerned. The team put the past behind them and concentrated on Saturday's game Ð also against the Weyburn Red Wings Ð which is something head coach and GM Mike Reagan says is important. They were focused and put a good effort in, but the Maroon and White were unable to pick up a win in their second try. The Red Wings kept another two points with a 4-3 victory. "I can't complain," said Reagan, referring to the team's performance. "We dominated five-on-five. "If it was just five-on-five, we were the better team," he says. Though when it came to power plays, the Red Wings had them beat as they scored four powerplay goals and the Bombers earned one. "We competed hard and we played really (well)," Reagan says. After the first period, the Bombers were down 2-0, but came back with two goals to open the second period Ð which were followed by another set from the home team. And a late goal in the third period gave the Bombers another shot at tying things up, but they couldn't get past goalie AJ Whiffen. The game marked the end of a four-game road trip in which the Bombers won once, against Notre Dame. Reagan was not disappointed by his team's effort. "I thought we played very well in every one of the games," he says. Though a "bounce here or there" could have changed the ending of this team's five-day story, Reagan says things are turning around. And taking a look at the SJHL standings, the Red Wings sit in first place in the Sherwood Conference. "Weyburn is the hottest team in the (SJHL)," Reagan says. "We were able to go in and play really good hockey and very easily could have beat them." That alone, according to Reagan, is a "confidence booster" for the team. The following is a summary of Saturday's game: Matt Weninger guarded the mesh for the Maroon and White as his team moved up the ice to try and get past Whiffen. A good hockey game, according to Reagan, was watched by almost 800 fans in Weyburn. Local fans started cheering first as the home team got by with a powerplay goal just before the three-minute mark of the first period. A second goal came from the team less than 10 minutes later for the Red Wings to take a comfortable lead. The Bombers were unable to get to the back of the net in the first period, but they did find themselves in the penalty box a few times. Harley Garrioch was in for boarding, Jean Sebastian Bergeron for interference and Mitch Dougall for roughing after the whistle Ð along with Red Wing Rodney Cowie. The home team was given two minutes for goaltender interference as well as tripping. By the end of the first period, both goalies had seen the puck 10 times. The second period had the Bombers looking for some revenge has Michael Young got the team on the score clock first. After accepting a pass from Reid MacLeod and Cole Wilson, Young lit the lantern for the team's first of the game. Following suit, Wilson got on the other end of the goal with help from Young on a power play Ð evening the score out at two apiece. The glory was short-lived for the Bombers as the Red Wings soon came out with two more powerplay goals Ð making it 4-2 for the home team. Flin Flon did get on the sheet a few more times for penalties as Devin Mitzner was in for hooking, Josh Garneau for high sticking and Doug McLeod for slashing. Another 11 shots came from the Bombers while Weninger had 12 come his way. Getting to the third period, the Bombers closed the gap a little with a third goal from Alex Lamontagne, with help from Garneau. While the Bombers scored the only third period goal, the Red Wings earned the only penalties. As for shots on net, it was another 11 from the Bombers and seven to Weninger. After getting back and settled into the Whitney Forum, the Bombers took on the Nipawin Hawks last night, which Reagan said was going to be a "big game." "Nipawin is playing really (well)," he says, "They are closing in on us." As for big games, the coach says the team has two more to go. "If we win those, then we pretty much lock up second place. "It's going to be a pretty intense game," he says.
