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 Flin Flon Bombers have been on their game as of late. Being down a few goals on Friday night while playing host to the La Ronge Ice Wolves, they pulled through and tied things up. The Maroon and White were able to notch the tying goal with less than six seconds left, bringing the game to a shootout. However, the Ice Wolves were one better than the Bombers and took the first of two weekend games with a 7-6 win. Bombers head coach and GM Mike Reagan said the Whitney Forum was a "fun" and "electric" place to be Friday night. "This was a great hockey game to come to," said Reagan. Though the Bombers didn't come out with the W, the team played well, but had some bad bounces. Reagan said the first few goals for the Ice Wolves stemmed from luck. The Ice Wolves earned the first goal of the game Ð from Dalton Fossum Ð before the Bombers came back to tie things up with a power play marker from Brody Haygarth in the first nine minutes of play. To break the tie, the Ice Wolves got their second goal of the game Ð the last one of the first period Ð past Matt Weninger. Coming into the second period, the Ice Wolves got past Weninger for their third goal just shy of the four-minute mark. It took a couple of minutes, but the Bombers were able to score their second goal as David Dykstra put one past Adam Bartko unassisted. With the score 3-2, the Ice Wolves padded their lead with a fourth goal on a power play. With four goals against him, Reagan pulled Weninger and put in Klynt Spencer, hoping to give his team a chance to catch up in the scoring. But it just wasn't the Bombers night as the Ice Wolves got past Spencer to round out the second period, leaving the score at 5-2. But coming back for the third period, the Bombers were not backing down. Reagan said they showed a lot of character as they continued to battle. The Maroon and White scored the first goal of the period Ð a marker from Alex Lamontagne, with help from Dominic Martel, to make it 5-3. Scoring the team's fourth goal and his second of the night was Dykstra, further closing the scoring gap to bring Flin Flon to within one goal of the tie. Less than 30 seconds later, Martel earned his own marker as he scored the team's fifth of the night to tie the game. With a late goal from the Ice Wolves once again gave the visitors the lead, at 6-5. But with 5.5 seconds left on the clock, the Bombers tied it up once again Ð taking the game to overtime Ð with a goal from Dykstra. A scoreless overtime led to a shootout. Dustin Stevenson scored the winning goal for the Ice Wolves to give La Ronge the game 7-6. When Reagan pulled Weninger and replaced him with Spencer, he said he thought things would end differently. "I pulled Winny thinking, you know, it's not his night, just bad bounces, and then Klynt goes in there and he lets a slap shot (in) from outside the blueline. "It was bad breaks tonight. I mean, we totally outplayed them," he said. Bad breaks came for the Bombers, but Reagan was happy with the amount of character his team showed. "We were down three goals and we came back to tie it and we give up a goal late and we end up scoring with 5.5 left.... I mean yeah, it shows a lot of character," he said. "You think we're not going to go through the year where we have a few bad breaks?" he asked. "...we haven't had any bad breaks for a long time. You know that it's going to happen once in a while." While happy with the team's composure, Reagan said he was disappointed they didn't get the win Ð but still pleased they got a point out of the night. "...good teams find a way to win and we did everything we could there tonight to try and pull out a victory, but it just wasn't in the cards," he said. "We got a point and ya know what, tonight is one of those nights when you think 'Gee, if only I could have a point.' "I'm pretty happy with a point." Friday night, the Bombers showed their strength through their forwards. "We found a way to score. I was really happy with the way we skated," he said. The game featured a revamped Bomber roster following the recent trades of four players. "We haven't had any practice time with these guys," Reagan said. "It's going to take some time to make the adjustment and we're feeling them out, too. We've changed our lines completely so the chemistry is not there, but I thought some of the guys played pretty decent." The Bombers hosted the Ice Wolves Saturday night as well and split the weekend with a 4-2 win.
