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.
This past weekend was one of missed opportunities for the Flin Flon Bombers, who managed only one point in two games with the Notre Dame Hounds. The Bombers and Hounds skated to a 5-5 draw on Friday night, and Notre Dame edged Flin Flon 2-1 on Saturday night. On Friday, it is arguable that the Bombers were lucky to walk away with a point after spotting the Hounds three early goals. With three goaltenders in town, Paul Reimer got the start, adding to the speculation that Troy Ciernia would be the odd man out by Saturday's trade deadline. This was in fact the case, and you can read more about the deals on page five. Brock Higgins opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 5:56, and Sasha Pokulok and Pat Wilmot scored five seconds apart at 6:57 and 7:02 to take a 3-0 lead. Joey Moggach finally got the Bombers on the board with his 12th of the year, a power-play marker at 12:55, assisted by Julian Matte and Anatoliy Moshkovsky. The teams exchanged goals in the second period. Stewart Sjoberg's goal at 4:10 was his tenth of the year, on the power play, and was assisted by Derek Gallagher and Derek Blais. Matt Werry restored Notre Dame's two-goal lead at 9:31, making it a 4-2 game after the second period. In the third, the Bombers made the most of their chances, getting power-play goals from Andrew Skrabek and Derek Blais. Skrabek's goal at 5:57 was assisted by Jeff LaPointe, and Kyle Holmes assisted on the Blais goal at 7:05. Rylan Kaip put the Hounds ahead 5-4 at 12:41, and it looked like Notre Dame was going to escape with a win, but with the goaltender pulled, Jeff LaPointe found the back of the net with 2.7 ticks left on the clock to tie the game and send it to overtime. The goal was assisted by Andrew Skrabek and Stewart Sjoberg. Nothing was decided in the extra frame, and the game ended in a stalemate. The Hounds out shot the Bombers 36-31, including 16-8 in the first period. Special teams were again a strength for the Bombers, who scored four goals on seven chances with the man advantage, and kept the Hounds to one goal on four tries with the extra attacker. The atmosphere in the building was electric on Friday night, with chants and cheering that hasn't been heard since the Royal Bank Cup. Just under 1,000 fans returned for the rematch on Saturday night, and were treated to one of the better goaltending match-ups of the season. Unfortunately, the Bombers ended up on the wrong side of the 2-1 final score. See 'Ejected' P.# Con't from P.# Flin Flon had to play most of the game without captain Derek Blais, who was ejected for checking from behind at the 1:48 mark of the first period. That took the edge from the Bombers' game plan, and they were out shot 13-4 in the first period. Newcomer Francois Laverdrere was the best player on the ice in the first period, stopping all 13 shots to keep the Bombers in the game. The second period saw a much better effort from the Bombers. Jeff LaPointe scored the only goal of the game for Flin Flon at 5:58 of the second period. The power-play goal was assisted by Kyle Holmes and Ryan Boak. Pat Wilmot evened the score for Notre Dame at 8:27 with a power-play goal, and the teams started the third period locked at 1-1. The Bombers came out flat to start the third period. Captain Paul Geiger scored a power-play goal for the Hounds at 3:55, and Notre Dame was able to shut down the Bomber attack, keeping the Bombers to just six shots in the final period. The Bombers were out shot 38-21 in the game, and were held to one power-play goal on six chances, while the Hounds scored both their goals on seven chances. With two months remaining in the season, the Bombers have got their work cut out for them to earn a playoff spot. They are now four points behind the Nipawin Hawks for the fourth playoff spot in the Dodge Conference, with one more game played. In the cross over to the Sherwood Conference, the Bombers are four points behind Estevan with two games in hand and are now two points behind Notre Dame as well with equal games played. Next action for the Bombers will be this Friday and Saturday, when they host the Dodge Conference leading Kindersley Klippers.
