The Flin Flon Bombers will look to close off a five-game home stand with a win over the Battlefords North Stars tomorrow night.
Sitting in second place in the Sherwood Division heading into the weekend, the Bombers are happy with their play so far but know there is room for improvement.
“I think we expected to be fighting for first place,” said head coach Mike Reagan. “We’re happy with the way we’ve played for the most part. There has been a lot of movement on the team with regards to getting down in numbers and making some decisions on some young guys. I think we’ve got to be happy with our 4-1-1-1 record. Is there a lot of work to do? Sure.”
The Bombers came within a goal of being 5-1-0-1, losing in overtime to the Notre Dame Hounds last weekend. It was a game that could have gone either way.
“The Notre Dame game was great, but for us to come back in the third period and then lose it the way we did in overtime, I was disappointed in that,” said Reagan. “That could have been a big feather in our cap to be the first team to knock off Notre Dame. They’ve got a good team, and we expect them to be one of the tougher teams in the league.”
Although the Bombers are scoring in bunches, Reagan attributes their success largely to the play of their young defencemen.
“We think that we’ve got a good team,” he said. “Our core is really strong, and we really like our D. They are young, but there is a lot of potential for growth. You take a look at Dustin Perrilat, Mason Etter and Brandon Masson. Those three guys need to play a lot and they are just going to develop. By the end of the year they are going to be so much better.”
The Bombers have had a week off to prepare for the Stars. It’s the first time this year that they have had an entire week between games.
“It’s been a nice week to have this much time to actually practice,” said Reagan. “I was gone for a week and then we only had half a team during the [SJHL] Showcase [in Warman], so it was tough to really work on a lot of things. Our Battlefords game is the last game of our home stand. It’s really important that we go on the road feeling good about ourselves. If we can go 5-0-1 in our six games at home, that would be big for us.”
The Stars have been enjoying success early this year as well, sitting at 4-1-2.
“We know they are going to work hard,” said Reagan. “If you take a night off against them, they’ll make you pay. They’ve kind of been a team that nobody knows what to expect from them. They’ve had a lot of turnover there, but they’ve got a good coach and their work ethic is really good.”
