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 suffered their worst blow as they lose captain Blake McCullough for the year. After sustaining an injury in Nipawin, McCullough is now walking on crutches. "The doctors, like 95 per cent sure, there's no torn ligaments so that's good," said McCullough who was at the rink during practice on Monday. "It appears there's a bone fragment, they're not sure how big the bone chip is," he said. "If it's a small bone chip, they have to go in there, cut it and remove it, if it's a big bone chip they have to go in and screw it back onto the knee cap." The Bombers defenseman said it will probably take three months to recover, with six weeks in a cast. He's staying positive though. "You never know how you respond," he said. "I'm at a young age and the team goes, gets on a good playoff run, you know, maybe I will be a late season addition. "Yeah, it's very disappointing and frustrating," said McCullough. "I thought the last month-and-a-half, two months, my play had really come around and having now Doug in here, the team's really excited." Bombers coach-GM Doug Stokes knows how big the loss is. "Well it's huge, you know without really getting to know Blake that well, I can certainly tell in the short time that I have been here, and in conversation with him, he's extremely mature for a 19-year-old," said Stokes. Stokes knows that something has to be done to try and fill the gap left by McCullough, but his number one concern right now is team depth. Stokes will look at his list of players to make the right changes.
