How do you replace 97 goals, 263 points, 550 saves and 15 seasons of SJHL experience?
Flin Flon Bombers coach and GM Mike Reagan must now find an answer to that question.
The Canalta Cup has yet to be presented, but already the rebuilding has begun for the Bombers following last week’s heartbreaking exit from the post-season.
Looking ahead to next season, Reagan is already on the road, scouting and recruiting to replace the pieces of the puzzle lost due to player graduation.
Forwards Chris Rauckman, Austin Evans, Parker Evans-Campbell, Dean Allison and Brett Boehm, defencemen Tyler Bell and Danys Chartrand, and goaltender Adam Beukeboom have all played their last game as a Bomber.
Holes left by the graduating skaters will be especially hard to fill. Their combined 97 goals accounted for 47 per cent of Flin Flon’s league-leading offensive output in 2014-15.
Rauckman notched 39 markers on his own, just one below league leader Travis Mayan of Melfort. Rauckman’s departure leaves the door open for players such as Alex Smith, Brett Kitt and Austin Calladine to step up their production next season.
In all, the Bombers scored 207 goals this season. They potted seven goals in one game on five separate occasions, the most being a 9-0 pounding of the Estevan Bruins in October.
Defensively, Flin Flon was middle of the pack, allowing 159 goals, the fifth-fewest in the league.
Beukeboom was a big part of the success in that department. He had a largely stellar season, putting up a 2.37 goals-against average and 0.932 save-percentage.
But the 20-year-old puckstopper was not the clutch performer the Bombers had hoped for, as crease partner Simon Hofley was solid in the final two games of Flin Flon’s playoff run against Notre Dame.
With Hofley eligible to return next season, Reagan must decide whether the 2013 Telus Cup top goalie can be a full-time, bona fide number one.
Penalties
There were times in their series with the Hounds that penalties cost the Bombers. And that could hardly come as a surprise.
As much as the refs may blow the odd call, the fact remains that Flin Flon was by far the most penalized club in the SJHL this season with 1,534 minutes in the sin bin. That was 548 more minutes than the Hounds.
Other than their Game 7 loss in Wilcox, the low point of the season for Flin Flon was definitely the month of December.
During that forgettable month, the Bombers lost six in a row before finishing up with a pair of wins to head into the Christmas break.
As far as acquisitions, the most surprising move came in January when Reagan reacquired scoring phenom Boehm a year after an unpopular trade sent him to Yorkton.
In 23 games in maroon and white, Boehm did not disappoint, scoring eight times and adding 20 assists for 28 points. Had he been with Flin Flon all season, he would have most certainly been the team’s top scorer.
When the final buzzer sounded on the regular season, the Bombers had a record of 31-13-6-6, good for 74 points. That ranked them fifth overall in the SJHL.
This season was Flin Flon’s third-most successful campaign of the last 20 years, behind only 2000-01 (91 points) and 2009-10 (78 points).
This coming season, 2015-16, marks the 50th anniversary of Bobby Clarke’s debut with the Bombers.
Will the Bombers mark the milestone with triumph or tragedy? Fans have to wait a little over five months to start finding out.
