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.
If the Bombers want to win any games on the road this year, they will have to start putting forth a full 60-minute effort every game. That is the message that coach Ryan Hoffman has been drilling into his players heads after a near-disasterous effort on Tuesday night that saw the Bombers down 6-1 after two periods of play. "In the third period, we came out with a little bit of emotion, and we got back to playing Bomber hockey, but it was too little, too late," he said. "In all honesty, coming back and winning or tying that game might have done us more harm than good in the long run. We're not good enough to be able to just turn it on and off whenever we feel like it. We need complete efforts, and we definitely didn't get that on Tuesday." Give Nipawin credit, though, as the Hawks came out strong and took it to the Bombers early in the game. "I thought we came out pretty flat on Tuesday," said Hoffman. "Nipawin played pretty well. I've been watching the game tape, and the second period wasn't as bad as we thought it was initially. When you sandwich in a seven minute penalty-kill, that's a pretty good chunk of the period. They capitalized on a couple of opportunities, and we dug ourselves into a pretty big hole." With the worst penalty killing record in the league, the Bombers have spent a lot of time on special teams play in practice this week. "We've been spending some time working on our special teams," he said. "Our penalty kill is ranked last in the league, and probably one reason for that is we've taken the most penalties in the league. You look at the first two goals that Nipawin scored on the power-play. Both penalties were really bad penalties to take. They were selfish penalties, and it always seems that those are the ones that come back to haunt you. We've got to be a little smarter and a little more selective, and get a little better feel for the game - how the referee is calling things." Hoffman knows that cutting down on the number of power play opportunities the Bombers give the other team will go a long way in improving their penalty kill, and knows that special teams will be crucial if they want to take any points out of the South this weekend. "We face two teams that have a lot of offensive jam in Yorkton and Melville right off the bat," he said. "Again, special teams will be huge for us. Melville is really big and strong up front. Limitting the number of chances we give them on the power play will be huge." The Bombers will be in Yorkton on Sunday afternoon and Melville on Monday, before closing their first three-game road trip of the season in Nipawin on Tuesday. As a special treat, Ryan's mom will be cooking a Thanksgiving meal for the entire team after the game on Sunday afternoon. The Bombers will return home for two games on October 17 and 18 against the Melville Millionaires. It will be the first regular season games for coach Ryan Hoffman, who anxiously awaits his chance to get behind the bench following his 10-game suspension. Also on October 17, the Bombers will be unveiling the vehicle for their classic vehicle raffle. Last year's 'Old Yeller' draw was a huge success for the team, so they have come back with a similar draw this year. Be the first to see the new vehicle next Friday.
