Another impressive season has come to a close for the Flin Flon Bombers.
The squad ended its Canalta Cup run on Sunday, falling 4-2 to the Melfort Mustangs in a hard-fought Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League championship series.
Melfort repeats as the Canalta Cup champs and will go on to represent the SJHL in Estevan at the Western Canada Cup, which will determine the western representatives for the national Royal Bank Cup.
“I’m proud of where we came from as a team,” Bombers head coach Mike Reagan said. “At the beginning of the year, we struggled, but came a long way.”
The Bombers began the 2015-2016 SJHL campaign with a 3-10 record. With some key additions, character wins, players getting healthy, and other factors, the Bombers came together.
The team posted the SJHL’s best record from Dec. 1 through the end of the regular season. The Bombers had a seven-game winning streak and one of eight straight victories.
Flin Flon finished sixth in the SJHL with a 34-20-0-4 record.
The line of SJHL Player of the Year Alex Smith (third in the league scoring race with 84 points), Brandon Switzer (75) and Joel Kocur (71) proved to be one of the best – if not the best – in the league.
Having said this, depth was a calling card of this Bombers team. With such players as Tyson Empey (29 points) and Jason Lavallee (33 points in 39 games) contributing, Flin Flon had four strong lines to draw on.
On the back end, a strong group of unsung defencemen protected the blue line and chipped in offensively as well.
Joseph Leonidas led the Bombers blue line with 33 points, while second-year man Curtis Roach had 26.
Zac Robidoux, who backstopped Portage to an RBC Cup last season, and rookie Brenden Newton provided Flin Flon with a formidable goaltending duo.
In the playoffs, the Bombers had a challenging road to the finals. First they knocked off No. 3 seed Weyburn 4-1 in a series that will likely be long remembered for the Red Wings’ attempted theft of the celebratory moose leg.
In the next round, Flin Flon upset the top-seeded Battlefords North Stars 4-1.
In the Canalta Cup finals, Flin Flon took a 2-1 lead before Melfort came back to win the next three games.
Each of the final two games of the series were decided by just a goal, with the fifth going to overtime. Flin Flon outshot Melfort in both games five and six.
“We deserved better,” Reagan said. “Five of the six games we should have won. At the end of the day, we couldn’t have asked for the guys to play any better.
With players suspended owing to the moose leg incident, and with a few injuries affecting the lines, the Bombers’ depth was especially important in the playoffs.
For example, rookie defenceman Cory Thomas, in his 17-year-old season, stepped in and played an important role. Leonidas even saw time at forward in the finals.
Pierre Luc-Morin, the team’s lone 20-year-old blueliner, missed most of the playoffs with a broken jaw. Lavallee suffered a broken wrist and was lost for the final two games of the Canalta Cup playoffs.
The team will hand out awards this Saturday, April 30.
