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.
Coach Ryan Hoffman will take his place behind the Flin Flon Bomber bench tonight for the first time this season, after serving a 10-game suspension handed down in the off season. The Bombers face the Melville Millionaires for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday, and look to improve on their effort from last Monday, when they lost 6-2 in Melville. Under interim coach Brad Snyder, Flin Flon's record is 2-3-5, good for nine points in their first 10 games. Coach Ryan Hoffman has used his time watching from the press box as an extended evaluation of his team. "I thought we would have a little more trouble scoring goals than we have," said Hoffman, commenting on his team's success at putting the puck in the net during the first ten games. "Thus far, we've done a pretty good job with that. If anything, we're giving up too many shots on goal and too many scoring chances." One area that the Bombers have vastly improved in has been penalty killing. Although they haven't been able to quite climb out of the basement in this statistic, the Bombers improved their penalty killing on the road to 83.3% efficiency during their last road trip. The Bombers continue to work on their defensive game, and as the penalty kill continues to improve, their goals-against should improve accordingly. Losing 6-2 in their first meeting of the season, the Bombers are well aware of Melville's offensive threats. Shawn Langen, Chad Haacke, Dan Wilson, Jordan Hack, and Matt Stefanishion are all among the top ten SJHL scorers. Flin Flon's Andrew Skrabek is in 11th spot with eight goals and 14 points. "I thought we played pretty hard in Melville," said Hoffman. "I didn't really think that was a 6-2 game. Things maybe got a little stupid with lots of penalties. Our goaltending played well, but maybe wasn't as sharp as it could have been. We want to get some points out of the game tonight and get the weekend off to a good start." In order to do that, the Bombers will have to crack down defensively. They can't afford to take any shifts off against the most offensively potent team in the SJHL. A return to the Whitney Forum could be just what the doctor ordered for the ailing Bombers, who have struggled with only one tie in their last four games. While Simon McCusker, Stewart Sjoberg, Kevin Burwell and Derek Blais may not be able to help their team on the ice this weekend, coach Ryan Hoffman's return behind the bench may provide an extra incentive for the team to perform well. Of the three injured players (Burwell is out with a suspension) McCusker is the only one that may see action this weekend if needed. Sjoberg will likely be out for another week, while Blais could miss up to six weeks with a cracked foot. "It's definitely been tough watching from up top these last four games," he said. "We struggled a bit on the road, and haven't been able to pick up a win. You try to turn it into as much of a positive as you can, and I had a little better view and a chance to do some evaluation and analysis in the first ten games." Hoffman is pleased with his team's performance so far, adding that they are right where he expected them to be in the standings. "After ten games, I thought if we had between eight and 10 points we'd be okay," he said. "To be sitting with nine, I'm comfortable with that. Brad did everything we asked of him and more. He's coached at a number of different levels including this level before, and he's used to working with the younger guys. He was able to relate to the guys; he's pretty easy-going, much like myself." The transition from Hoffman coaching in exhibition to Snyder in the first 10 games was a smooth one, and Hoffman expects that the same will happen as he takes the reins from Snyder this weekend. Also this weekend, watch for defenceman Mike Stevens as he makes his debut in a Bomber uniform. The Bombers will also unveil the new set of wheels for this year's classic vehicle raffle during the game on Friday.
