With the Flin Flon Bombers forced to trim their roster this week, Matthew Smishek found himself the odd man out.
Coach and GM Mike Reagan dealt Smishek, a sparingly used forward / defenceman, to the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines for futures on Tuesday.
Smishek, 18, played nine games with Flin Flon this season, accumulating two assists and 15 penalty minutes.
“He’s a great kid, he works hard,” said Reagan. “We’ve got such a good group of guys that to let any of them go is difficult. I wish I could keep them all, but at the end of the day we can only carry so many players.”
SJHL teams had until Tuesday to reduce their rosters to 25 carded players. The Smishek trade leaves Flin Flon with 23 players on Junior A cards and three players on Junior B cards.
Reagan said that gives him flexibility to make additional moves before the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
As reported Wednesday, prior to this week’s deadline Reagan acquired centreman Rylee Zimmer from Waywayseecappo in a three-way trade that sent blueliner Holden Daley to Kindersley.
Coaching opportunity
Reagan was scheduled to leave Thursday for Ontario, where he will serve as an assistant coach with Team Canada West at the 2015 World Junior A Challenge.
He has been involved with the tournament in past years but this marks his first time as an assistant coach.
“I think when you play or coach at a higher level, you can’t help but get better,” Reagan said Wednesday.
Reagan will miss up to eight Bomber games while in the Ontario communities of Whitby and Cobourg for the tournament.
Assistant coach Garry Childerhose will act as bench boss in Reagan’s absence as the Bombers look to extend last month’s success into December.
Shut out of awards
Despite the Bombers’ hot November, Flin Flon was shut out of the monthly league awards.
Travis Mayan of Melfort was named RBC Player of the Month. Kendall Fransoo of Battlefords took the IBAS Defenceman of the Month award.
Kris Joyce of La Ronge was named SaskTel Goalie of the Month, while Rookie of the Month honours went to Taryn Kotchorek of Battlefords.
For the week ended Dec. 2, the Bombers ranked sixth in the Source Embroidery SJHL Power Rankings. Noted the rankings: “They’ve been quite good since a brutal start.”
Solid debut
Former Bombers goalie Devin Buffalo made 37 saves in his first NCAA start last Saturday, Nov. 28.
Buffalo’s strong effort helped his Dartmouth Big Green to a 1-1 tie against the Michigan Wolverines.
“If you told me five years ago that I’d be playing college hockey and making my first career start against Michigan, I don’t know if I would’ve believed you,” Buffalo, 22, told Dartmouth Sport.
Buffalo played for the Bombers from 2011 to 2014. The team posted an article on his Big Green debut on its website this week.
