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 continued their four-game road trip with a game against the Notre Dame Hounds on Thursday. It's a good thing that Paul Reimer showed up to play, as the Bombers were out shot 54-16. Reimer kept the Bombers in the game, but without any offensive production, Flin Flon was shut out 3-0. Goaltender Chance Gieni made 16 saves to record the shut out. The Bombers had problems controlling the play on the Olympic sized ice surface the Hounds play on, and were out shot 20-5, 19-6 and 15-5 by the periods. Andrew Gordon had a power-play goal in the first period for Notre Dame, and Raphael Robitaille scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season at 11:47 and 14:27 of the second period. The Bombers went 0/6 on the power play, while the Hounds scored once on eight tries with the extra attacker. After a day off to regroup on Friday, the Bombers were in Estevan to play the Bruins on Saturday. Talk about going from one extreme to the other, playing on an Olympic surface on Thursday to the sardine tin surface in Estevan on Saturday. The Bombers are much better suited to playing on the smaller surface, as long as they are physical. Although Saturday's game didn't sound like it was an all-out battle, the intensity level had improved and the Bombers had a better showing, picking up a point in a 2-2 tie for their efforts. Unfortunately, the Bombers didn't play like they are capable of in the first two periods, and were heavily out shot for the umpteenth game in a row. Again Reimer had to be sharp in order to give his team a chance to compete. Michael Allan opened the scoring for Estevan at 11:56 of the first period, and Derek Gallagher breathed some life into the Bombers by scoring a power-play goal at the 18 minute mark, with Simon McCusker and Joey Moggach assisting. The Bombers were out shot 19-7 in the first period, and 18-9 in the second period, where Lorne Tytlandsvik put the Bruins ahead 2-1 with a goal at 13:45. Flin Flon finally woke up in the third period, and Andrew Skrabek scored an unassisted, shorthanded goal while the Bombers were down by two men at 12:11 of the frame, as both Kyle Holmes and John Iron were off for slashing. The Bombers out played and out shot the Bruins 18-11 in the third period to tie the game at 2-2. The Bruins out shot the Bombers 9-4 in overtime, but nothing was decided. Final shots on net were 57-38 in favour of the Bruins. Flin Flon scored one goal on nine power plays, and added a short handed goal, while the Bruins were held scoreless on eight tries with the man advantage. It was the seventh tie of the season for the Bombers, who haven't won a game since October 3 when the Melfort Mustangs were in town. Flin Flon's record is now 2-6-7 after 15 games, good for 11 points but leaves them in sixth place in the SJHL's Dodge Conference. In their past 10 games, they are 0-6-4 (stats don't included Sunday's game). Flin Flon concluded their road trip with a game against the Red Wings in Weyburn yesterday afternoon, losing 6-5 in overtime. The Bombers, who have been bitten by the injury bug as of late, will have only one game in the next 11 days, which should give the team plenty of time to heal some nagging bumps and bruises. Coach Ryan Hoffman has also stated that some deals may be in the works, and could be completed soon. The next action for the Bombers will be on November 1, when they host the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
