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.
Before this yearÕs training camp even got started, the Flin Flon Bomber coaches were confident in the guys they had lined up. The camp, now over, only reiterated their feelings. Both Mike Reagan, returning head coach and GM, and assistant coach Trevor Sack saw how much the players wanted to be a part of the organization during the first exhibition game of the season, held Monday. The Bombers took on the MJHLÕs Dauphin Kings and nearly doubled up on them with a score of 5-3. Nearly 600 fans were on hand to watch the pre-season action. ÒYou donÕt know what youÕve got until you go up against a team,Ó says Reagan. Even though the Kings had six vets and the Bombers had one, he said the team was Òfeeling good.Ó ÒWeÕve got a group of young guys capable of playing anyone,Ó says Reagan. And the hopeful Maroon and White rookies made it their mission to prove that Monday night. On the nightÕs roster were a few AP players from last year, but the majority were new to Flin Flon, which Reagan says makes his job that much harder. ÒWeÕve got a lot of tough decisions coming up,Ó he says. ÒThere are a lot of new faces, but we are feeling pretty confident.Ó Reagan believes that the tough choices on his plate are a positive sign. ÒWe donÕt feel we have to go searching for anyone. We are confident in what we have here,Ó says the second-year coach. But confidence and a line-up of rookies donÕt always go hand in hand for a team. ÒThere are definitely teams (that) come out of camp looking for something, (but) we feel confident,Ó says Reagan. ÒWe are always trying to get better and will if (we) can, but (we) still feel confident.Ó As the coaches reiterate their confidence, former AP player Mitch Dougall is feeling good coming out of training camp. ÒThe team is looking good,Ó says Dougall. ÒWe had a few injuries, but we are recovering and making strides.Ó All the players in the camp knew they were fighting for the same thing and Dougall says he is well aware that not everyone will make the final cut. ÒEveryone is fighting for a spot on the team. There are no guarantees,Ó he says. ÒI feel strong in my position. ÒBut you can never get too comfortable. There are a lot of great guys here.Ó Having played a few games at the end of last season with the Bombers, the hopeful player says he is looking forward to this season. ÒThere are a lot of fast guys, as you can tell from the game tonight,Ó he says. ÒYou have to come ready to play every game and learn to adapt. ÒEvery game is a different game.Ó Comments surrounded the Whitney Forum Monday night as some fans found it hard to believe it was only pre-season. The team was working so well together. ÒWell, thatÕs good to hear,Ó says Reagan. ÒThere is a high level of talent (here). We recruit people here to win.Ó With that being said, Reagan says the guys in the dressing room arenÕt selfish and are all team leaders. ÒWe win and lose as a team,Ó he says. ÒItÕs our job to put the best team on the ice as possible.Ó Pre-season The pre-season schedule has the Bombers playing five games in seven days, a few of which are road games. ÒIf we could do it over again, we wouldnÕt have the five in seven,Ó says Reagan. ÒBut we didnÕt realize we would be this banged up,Ó he says, noting that the team is missing six players who Òare going to be in the line-up at some point this year.Ó Looking over the roster from Monday night, the number of rookies first hits you. Then it is the AP players and then the vets, as only one, Brennan Cox, was dressed for the game. ÒThey (the players) are all in the line-up for different reasons,Ó says Reagan. ÒSome are there to gain experience, some are on the bubble and others are there to get into games. ÒThere are various reasons for each individual.Ó As the play made its way from end to end Monday night, Reagan says he thought the team Òmoved the puck pretty well for the first game of the pre-season.Ó ÒThere were a few defense lapses, but thatÕs expected early in the season Ð and with a team who has never played together before,Ó he says. Assistant coach Sack agreed. ÒI think they worked hard for the most part,Ó he says. ÒWe saw a few rookie mistakes from the younger guys. ÒGetting the experience in the exhibition games will help them in the future.Ó With five more pre-season games on the docket, neither Reagan nor Sack are thinking about the other teams. ÒWeÕre not too worried,Ó says Reagan. ÒWe are concentrating on us. You canÕt concentrate on them. ÒThey do what they have to do and we will do what we have to do.Ó The following is a scoring summary from MondayÕs game against Dauphin: The first period had teams chasing the puck from end to end before the Bombers broke Tyler LuptakÕs shutout after nearly 12 minutes of play. Devin Mitzner, assisted by Kyle Stephanson, put the Bombers on the score clock first, followed by local Tanner Korchinski, who was fed by Mathieu Lecours and Tristan Houde just a few minutes later. With the score now 2-0, Olivier Patry found the back of the net to make it 3-0 before the end of the first period after accepting a pass from Alex Lamontagne. The Kings and Bombers were back for the second 20 minutes of play, but it was Dauphin this time who broke Joel RumpellÕs goose egg, making it 3-1 just after the seven-minute mark. Ryan Drysdale, assisted by Ryan Griffiths and Sean Oullette, was the first to light the lantern for the away team. Halfway through the second period, the Bombers replaced Rumpell with Bill Pigden while Rhys Chesney switched off with Luptak. But the Maroon and White wanted to keep their three-goal lead as Lecours was back in the KingÕs end, making it 4-1 after being fed by Mitzner and Stephanson almost eight minutes later. And the crowd saw one more home goal for the second period as Dougall found the back of the net with help from linemates Andrew Boire and Doug Mcleod with less than two minutes on the clock. By the end of the second period, with a score of 4-2, the Bombers were sitting with 29 shots on net while the Kings fired off 19. The teams were back for the third and final period, which gave the KingÕs their last two final goals of the game, making it 5-3. Flin Flon left the ice after an impressive 42 shots on net while the Kings managed 27. The Bombers faced off against the La Ronge Ice Wolves Wednesday night and are up against the OCN Blizzard tonight.
