Simon Hofley made 31 saves to record his second shutout of the season, as the Flin Flon Bombers blanked the Battlefords’ North Stars 4-0 on Wednesday night.
It was a good bounce-back effort for Hofley, who had a rough week between the pipes for the Bombers on their recent road trip.
“That’s a big confidence booster for him,” said head coach Mike Reagan. “He struggled the last couple weeks here, and for a goaltender, confidence is a big thing. I thought that he did a good job of sucking in the puck tonight. There wasn’t too many second or third opportunities. He did a good job with his rebound control. We are happy for him. We need him to be on his game, not only for him, but for the guys to have confidence in him, too.”
The win improved Hofley's record to 16-10-5-0-2 on the season.
Rough affair
It was a rough affair, with 100 minutes in penalties handed out between the two teams.
Chris Rauckman's league-leading 33rd goal of the season, a power play marker at 2:07 of the first period, held up to be the game-winner.
Michael Knaub and Parker Evans-Campbell scored 22 seconds apart in the second period for Flon Flon and Austin Calladine capped the scoring with a power play goal at 12:19 of the third period.
Flin Flon scored twice on seven power play opportunities while Battleford was held scoreless on six attempts with the man advantage.
Goaltender Spencer Trumbley made 35 saves in a losing effort for the Stars.
The loss was a missed opportunity for the Stars, who would have been just three points behind the Bombers with a win.
Instead, Flin Flon jumped into a tie with Nipawin for fourth place in the league, and are now seven points ahead of the Stars.
“We got a couple lucky breaks, but I think we deserve a few this year,” said Reagan. “You’ll take them when you get them. Our power play was really good tonight. We probably could have had four or five more on the power play. Our puck movement was excellent. Our success in specialty teams is going to be key for us in
the playoffs. Our first unit has oodles of confidence right now. They are
getting a lot of good looks, and they know where each other are. The
chemistry is awesome on that unit.”
Next up for the Bombers is tonight’s “Hockey Night in Flin Flon” when the Melville Millionaires are in
town. Hudbay will be covering the gate admission for anyone wanting
to attend.
