The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Soviet Union had its famous K-L-M unit of Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov. In Philadelphia, the Legion of Doom was created with Eric Lindros, Mikael Renberg and John LeClair. Early in this young season the Flin Flon Bombers have their own line doing damage in the SJHL and it could be appropriately dubbed Kuboum, for Dennis Kubat, Pierre-Luc Boucher, and Reid McLeod. The trio had become a full-time unit following the fourth game of the season when the team played the La Ronge Ice Wolves in La Ronge on Sept. 20. As of Oct. 6, they have scored 12 goals, nine assists for 21 points. Kubat, going into Friday's game against the Notre Dame Hounds at home, leads the team in points with eight. While their point totals don't compare with others in the league, they're showing dangerous potential. Bombers coach-GM Doug Stokes put the three together hoping they could create offence, which the team lacked the first three games as they only scored four times. Stokes didn't imagine that things would work so well this early. "Usually that takes a little bit of a time frame," Stokes said. "It's funny that some guys just have different types of positives to their game and they seem to fit in together very very well. Boucher is more of a skilled guy that's got great puck skills Ð handles the puck real well Ð sees the ice and has got some finish around the net. A guy like Dennis that's just very astute in the game and is positionally sound. Great work ethic. "And then you get a guy like Reid McLeod, is sort of the grunt of the line," Stokes continued. "He plays in all the small areas. Is really strong on the puck. He can shoot. I think you have a little bit of a mixture there that is sort of a complement to each other." That mixture Stokes is talking about has put teams on their heels trying to contain them. There aren't a lot of shifts in which the Kuboum line doesn't make magic. And that starts with Boucher. The 19-year-old from Rimouski, Quebec, is not afraid to dangle with the puck. He showed his first glimpse of brilliance during an exhibition game in the Whitney Forum against the Swan Valley Stampeders when he stickhandled through three players heading to the net, briefly losing control of the puck before regaining possession, and beating the goalie. His skills have lifted Bomber fans from their seats. See 'We' P.# Con't from P.# "In Quebec it's not the same thing here. We practice more skill in practice," explained Boucher, who has three goals and six points in seven games as of Oct. 6. "Those guys can play very hard on the board so he makes more room for me so that's good. "It's fun on and off the ice. We have a lot of fun together," Boucher said. "Our chemistry is very good." While Boucher has the ability to have the puck on string, he joins his teammates to battle for pucks along the boards. McLeod, who is willing to do just about anything to win and leads Bomber rookies with four goals, and seven points in 10 games, is also enjoying the ride. "They're fun to play with," McLeod said. "They know what they're doing and they know if you make a mistake, they're there to back you up. It's a good line." McLeod, since joining the team after being at the Tri-City Americans (WHL) camp, has looked better with each game. During an interview with The Reminder last summer after signing with the Bombers, McLeod said he wanted to play on the top line, and he's doing just that. "Yeah, I'm surprised it happened so quickly," McLeod responded. "It's nice. These two guys are good to play with and I'm enjoying it." The former Interlake Lightning player not surprisingly is enjoying his time playing junior A hockey and the caliber of players he competes against. "I didn't have any expectations. I haven't really watched an SJ game (before) and I didn't know what it was like and I'm liking it so far," he said. Kubat is the veteran on the line. Big expectations were placed on him after having a solid playoff when he scored nine goals in 12 games. Kubat scored nine goals during the regular season playing a small role in Battleford before being traded to Flin Flon. With five goals already, he will easily surpass his rookie total. "It's actually been real good," Kubat said. "We all complement each other and it's been a lot of fun." When it came to playing together, Kubat said he and McLeod joked about it, then it happened during practice. "We've been playing good," he said. "We just got to keep it going. We have a bit of everything on our line. We got speed, heart, we got Reid Ð he'll drop the gloves even. We got toughness." While residents in Flin Flon here explosions everyday at about 7:15 p.m., the Kaboum line has the potential to explode with every scoring chance they create. The line has been important to the Bombers' success as they have scored 12 of the teams' 28 goals, which accounts for 42 per cent. As the trio gets better, the numbers will only go higher. The trio has also scored six power-play goals. While the rest of the team is starting to catch up offensively, Stokes wouldn't say the team would be in trouble without the line. "Who knows because we would have formed another unit right? And who's to say that some other unit wouldn't maybe of experienced some good chemistry and maybe some productive results because of that chemistry," he said. "That's a tough question to answer, but the bottom line is that we did put that line together. That line is not going to be split up until if we were to have struggles elsewhere. We can't become a one line hockey team either."
