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 Weyburn Red Wings didn't know what they were up against as the Flin Flon Bombers came flying out of the gates Saturday night. The Bombers were still celebrating their victory from the night before when they took on the La Ronge Ice Wolves in a 9-2 win. The Maroon and White took down the Red Wings 7-2, giving them a 16-4 total goal margin for the weekend. Just shy of 860 fans made their way through the doors of the Whitney Forum as they anticipated another win from the Bombers. While head coach Mike Reagan isn't new to the Bombers bench, he is new to the coaching side of things. But Reagan, who hasn't been off the ice for that long, says he has a tactic when it comes to making plays. "I always think of myself as a player... and what I would do in that situation," he says. Reagan's plan of attack, along with the determination of the team, paid off as they showed the visiting Weyburn Red Wings they weren't going down, not that night. While the Bombers won the game, Reagan says a big confidence booster is the fact that they beat the number one team in the Sherwood Conference. Big win "It was a big win to be able to beat one of the best teams in the SJHL. It's huge for the team," he says. "We know what we have in the dressing room and we just need to be consistent night in and night out." The Red Wings got things started in the first period as Brayden Norgang got the first goal past Calvin Bartel at 1:22. But in true Bomber fashion, David Linsley got one past the Red Wings to tie up the score just 13 seconds later. Assisting Linsley's goal were Pierre-Luc Boucher and Barrett Penner. With the score now tied at 1-1 before the first two minutes of play were up, the Bombers came back to break the tie as Penner got one past A.J Whiffen with the help of linemates Myles Masse and Reid MacLeod. At 14:59, MacLeod scored his 36th goal of the season, bringing the score up to 3-1 for the home team. Helping with MacLeod's goal were teammates Boucher and Masse. The first period saw only two penalties for the Bombers as David Linsley was given a 10-minute misconduct as well as two minutes for checking to the head, which was served by Boucher. The Red Wings had both Michael Seib and Andrew Perrault in the box for slashing while Perrault was also called on hooking. The Maroon and White had a total of 14 shots on net in the first period, while Bartel only had four come his way. The second period saw two more goals for the Bombers and a few more penalties. At the 8:22 mark of the period, Cole Wilson scored his goal, giving the home team a 4-1 advantage over the Red Wings. Wilson's goal was assisted by Dominic Martel and Masse. Linsley scored his second goal of the night later on in the period, which was assisted by Dustyn Clegg and MacLeod. Weyburn made the choice to change goalies as Tanner Erickson was put in between the pipes. With the score now 5-1, the Red Wings were still struggling to score another goal, but they would have to wait until the third period. Throughout the second period the Bombers had four penalties. J.M. Allard was given two minutes for interference and two minutes for holding as Brennan Cox was given two minutes for fighting and Penner saw two minutes on the clock for roughing. The visiting Red Wings also saw four penalties as Nick Needham saw the inside of the box for two minutes after being called on cross checking. Teammate Mick Pawlyshyn was given two minutes for holding while Seib had five minutes against him for fighting. And Shawn Courtney sat in the box for being an illegible player. At the end of the second period the Bombers had a total of 22 shots on net, while the Red Wings had 16. The third period had the clock lighting up early on again as the Maroon and White scored their sixth goal of the night after only 1:35 of play. Boucher found the back of the net once again, with help from Penner and Linsley, to make the score 6-1. It wasn't long before the Red Wings came back on surprise and got one past Bartel, giving them their second goal of the night. But once again the Bombers had the fans on their feet as captain Dennis Kubat scored the final goal of the night for a 7-2 victory. Helping on Kubat's goal were linemates Clegg and Boucher. The third period saw a number of penalties for both teams, as Penner was called for spearing. Serving the penalty was Boucher. Cameron MacKinnon was given five minutes for fighting as Linsley sat out for handling the puck. The Red Wings saw six penalties that period starting off with Perrault being called for checking to the head and a 10 minute misconduct. Serving the first penalty was Carter Selinger. Stephen Simms saw the inside of the box for roughing after the whistle as Scott Doody was given two minutes for boarding. Connor Krukowski was given five minutes for fighting and Seib saw the inside of the box for roughing after the whistle. Bartel saw a three period total of 23 shots against him while the Bombers had 39 on the Red Wings. While Reagan has commented that the Bombers aren't always focused, he says that in these two games there was better prep by the guys. "We were out there with a solid effort and a better work ethic," he says. "You can't rely on talent and the guys realized hard work is needed regardless." Inside the dressing room before a game the coaches and players have their talk, and Reagan says before Saturday night's game it was all about making the right decision. "We talk about making the right decision with the puck and about all the things we need to do to win games," says the coach. Prepared While the Bombers sat in fourth place in the Itech Conference following the game, Reagan says they need to work on taking on the big teams now so they are prepared when the playoffs come. "We just need to get used to it now and when the playoffs come it will just be easy," he says. And with Christmas break just around the corner, the Bombers had their final home game last night before taking off for the holidays. Results were unavailable at press time. Saturday night after the game, Reagan said the team has two wins under their belt and if they can get a third before going on the break, it will be all the better. "We want to feel good coming off the Christmas break and we're going to take the road games one game at a time," he says.
