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Bombers look to pick up the pace

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 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.

It's hard to believe that the 2003-04 SJHL season is already one third over. If one were to do the math, the Bombers are on pace to finish the season with a 9-24-24-3 record, good for 45 points. Miraculously, Flin Flon is not out of the playoff picture as of yet, as three other teams in the Dodge Conference have records below .500 and are within striking distance. The Bombers are within three points of Nipawin, La Ronge and Melfort, with games in hand over all three teams. Unfortunately, the Bombers are currently at the bottom of the pack and will have to figure out a way to string some wins together in a hurry if they want to be in the race come the Christmas break. "There are four teams jammed up at the bottom of the division," said coach Ryan Hoffman. "We're still in the thick of things. I'm not going to hit the panic button yet." It is easy to understand why the Bombers have won only three games. Taking a look at almost any game sheet from his year will tell you that the Bombers do not put in too many 60-minute efforts. Take Sunday afternoont for example. The Bombers were leading the Kindersley Klippers 1-0 after the first period of play. In the second period, Kindersley started by scoring a power-play goal a minute in, and controlled the play for the remainder of the period, out shooting the Bombers 35-4. They would score a total of four goals to take a 4-1 lead. The teams exchanged goals in the third period, making the final score 5-2. Paul Reimer faced 68 shots in the game. The team should thank him for coming out to play, as the score could have been disastrous had he chose to take the period off like most of his team. "We ran into some penalty trouble," Hoffman. "They got on the power play, and really got us on our heals. We didn't help things later in the period by taking some undisciplined penalties later in the period, and it was a shooting gallery for 20 minutes." If you take away those 20 minutes, shots would have been 33-28 in favour of Kindersley, and the Bombers would have won 2-1. The Bombers will have a month to turn things around before the Christmas break, when things really start to heat up as far as playoff races. "We're going to continue to work hard," said Hoffman. "Once we work Derek Blais and Stewart Sjoberg into a prominent role like they were in at the beginning of the year, that gives us three lines that can play with anybody. They really help our depth, and we can only get better." Both veterans Stewart Sjoberg and Derek Blais returned from injury on the weekend, and will only improve with each day. On the flip side, the Bombers lost goaltender Brett Koscielny, who could be out until after Christmas with a leg injury, and it is not known how long team captain Conrad Wilgenbusch will be out after suffering a concussion on the weekend. Wilgenbusch is currently in Saskatoon seeing the Saskatoon Blades' team doctor. Kevin Burwell will miss one more game of a four-game suspension for his accumulation of misconduct penalties, and Daryl Fransoo will know by the end of the week how many games he will have to miss, as his suspension is still pending. Flin Flon's game against the Battlefords' Stars that was to be played in Pelican Narrows on Friday has been postponed due to an ice problem. The game will be rescheduled, and the make-up date will likely be after Christmas. The next action for the Bombers will be on Saturday, when they host the Stars at the Whitney Forum.

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