It was nice for a week - while the Bombers are still on top of the SJHL standings, they’ve lost their spot in the national top 20 rankings.
One week after being named Canada’s 20th-best junior team, the Bombers fell out of the rankings, not even finishing as an honourable mention. The other SJHL team in the top 20 last week, Melfort, did the same after two losses last weekend to Humboldt. The Broncos are now the SJHL’s only ranked team, sitting 16th. The Battlefords North Stars were listed as an honourable mention.
Several Bombers finished as runners-up in the league's players of the week ratings, including Zak Smith, whose performance over the road trip got him second place for MVP of the week.
The Bombers’ MVP of their first road trip of the season was easily Smith, who ended the four-game southern swing with three goals and four assists. That includes a four point performance in the opening game of the trip against Melville. The WHL veteran scored in three of the four games the Bombers played.
Second place in the forward of the week discussion was Jaxon Martens. The first line forward impressed over the southern swing.
Martens also scored three goals over the course of the trip, adding another three assists for six points, while Brett Wieschorster snagged five assists. Martens now leads the Bombers in points with 17 points in 16 games.
The Bombers played the last two games of the trip without their now-former top scorer, as Jaeden Mercier was unable to play against Notre Dame and Weyburn. The returning forward has 16 points in 14 games and is one of only three Bombers (along with Martens and Smith) who have over a point a game on average.
With the Bombers now past the quarter-season mark, a pair of players are still waiting to make their season debut. Mackenzie Carson and Matt Raymond, who were both injured in the run-up to the season, have not played games yet this season. Both took part in Bomber training camp, but were hurt in the preseason campaign.
Cal Schell continues to be one of the SJHL’s top netminders this season, despite seeing more action than almost any other goalie in the league. Schell has played the second-most minutes of any SJHL goalie this season - only Humboldt’s Rayce Ramsay has played more - but still has the best save percentage of any goalie who has played more than 10 games. Schell has a .924 save percentage so far this season, along with eight wins (second in the league) and two shutouts (tied with Melfort’s Steven Bacovsky for top spot in the league before Bacovsky was traded out of the league last week.)
Jeremi Tremblay is inching his way into the conversation for the SJHL’s top rookie this season, having scored 13 points in 16 games. That puts him third in the league for rookie scoring, behind only Estevan’s Fitzpatrick and Connor McGrath from Humboldt, who has 21 points in 14 games, which leads the league.
In the SJHL standings, the Bombers sit first with 22 points in 16 games, but having played more games than most teams, the team sits third in point percentage behind Humboldt and Estevan.
