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.
Coming back from a 7-6 shootout loss to the night before, the Bombers were on their game Saturday night with a rematch against the Ice Wolves. Showing who's boss in the Whitney Forum, the Bombers sent La Ronge packing with a 4-2 victory. Still getting used to a few new faces in the line-up, the Bombers played the puck well and won a few more battles. "...they got a lot of breaks last night and tonight they didn't get those breaks and ya know, I thought we competed harder in some of the areas," Bombers head coach and GM Mike Reagan said. "We won a few more battles tonight than we did last night and it was a real play-off type of game today." Reagan gave credit to the Ice Wolves as he said "they played a heck of a game as well." Starting the scoring off, Flin Flon's Jonathan Young scored his first of the season with help from Patrick Sitko and newcomer Derek Ginnell at the 3:15 mark of the first period. See 'Ice' on pg. Continued from pg. Rounding out the first period, the Ice Wolves tied the game up with a goal from Phillipe St. Laurent just shy of the 15-minute mark. Coming back from intermission, the Bombers scored the lone goal of the period as Taylor Thiessen found the back of the net to make it 2-1, with an assist from Brody Haygarth. For the third period, the Bombers and Ice Wolves each put a marker up as Haygarth scored his own goal, with help from Matty Lecours, followed by La Ronge's second and last goal of the night. Ending out the third period, Dougie McLeod scored the contest's final goal with help from Mike Rey Ð making it 4-2. With 800 cheering fans the night before and almost 930 Saturday night, the players were sure to feed off the energy. "There's no better atmosphere in the league," Reagan said. "One thing we talk about is, we feed off of it, but other teams get excited coming in here. I was just talking to La Ronge's radio guy and he was saying all the guys were talking about it on the bus and they were excited to play here. "They know they are coming into a place where hockey really matters. La Ronge doesn't get a lot of fans and that, and so to play in front of a crowd like this is pretty exciting for them," he said. With two teams excited to be playing and feeding off of the crowds, the coach said, "We have to be on our toes, too Ð it doesn't just affect us." Reagan put Matt Weninger back in net for the second game, having pulled him in the second period the night before. "Well, I think he rebounded well from last night," said Reagan. "Last night was probably pretty frustrating for him and we thought it was important to get him right back in there tonight." The original plan of playing Klynt Spencer Saturday night was put on hold. "We felt that....(Weninger) needed to get right back in the net and then also we needed a big victory here tonight, and with the way he's been playing as of late, we thought he gave us the best chance to do that," said Reagan. The Bombers and Ice Wolves split the weekend, but the Bombers earned three points Ð giving them 43 points in the Bauer Conference while the Ice Wolves sat with 36. The Bombers travelled to Battlefords last night and are in Humboldt tonight before hosting the Nipawin Hawks Saturday.
