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.
Two things killed the Flin Flon Bombers in their 4-1 loss against the Melfort Mustangs on Tuesday night: their offence, or lack of it, and the Mustangs' top-ranked power play. Bombers coach-GM Doug Stokes said his team had seven to eight high quality scoring chances and couldn't bury them. Fans at the Whitney Forum did plenty of "aaawwing" throughout the night. In the opening period the Bombers didn't make the Mustangs pay for taking four consecutive power plays, including a two-man advantage. They fired 11 shots at goalie Robi Cavallari and he stopped them all. "I think he made some saves, but I think there's opportunities we had him out of position and didn't bury the puck," Stokes said. Cavallari had several moments in which he looked like Detroit Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek, as he flopped in his crease to make stops. The Bombers buzzed on the power play, but netted no results. They had to wait until the second when Pierre-Luc Boucher got one by Cavallari as the Bomber offence continues to sputter. In the opening period Boucher made a great move to get near Cavallari, but couldn't finish. Later defenceman Bradyn McCullough also created a chance which failed. In the third period, Reid MacLeod had a great chance after getting the puck from Dennis Kubat, but fired it at the goalie. Then late in the period, captain Blake Rolston had a breakaway chance and failed. While the Bombers went 1-8 on the power play, the Mustangs, who have now scored 56 of their 103 goals on the man advantage, were 4-for-8. See 'Effort' P.# Con't from P.# The first goal ricocheted off the boards and Cameron Humphrey was at the right place at the right time to tap it into the open side. Boucher's evened the score, but then a Taylor Watt slapshot from the blueline beat Bombers goalie Mike Nichol in the second during James Pasternak's five minute major, to make it 2-1. Pasternak was given a game misconduct for a hit from behind on Ryan Gareau, who was taken out on a stretcher for precautionary measures. With three minutes to go, affiliate player Ryan Fox took a penalty that resulted in a goal 16 seconds later again by Watt. That gave the Mustangs a 3-1 lead. "They live on their power play and everybody knows that and they get a couple breaks," Stokes said. "Two power-play goals were not structured power plays Ð they were horse(expletive), in all reality." Despite the Bombers suffering their 18th loss of the season, Stokes liked what he saw. "I thought we worked real hard against a very good hockey team with a make shift line," he said, as newcomers, Jordan Cherney, Nick Colliton, and Kyle Lundale didn't play and were expected to arrive Wednesday. Stokes felt his team played well in a lot of areas other than their finish around the net. "I look at the first period and we out shoot them 11-3," he said. "They take the penalties. We have territorial advantage, the chance advantage, the shot advantage, and we don't score." McCullough was happy with the teams play and said everybody gave it their best. "It's too bad we couldn't come out with the win," he said. "We had a lot of chances, but sometimes that's how it goes. I thought everybody, including the rookies, played really hard and did a real good job." The Bomber defenceman feels the team can take positives from that game to build on. "They're one of the better teams in the league," McCullough said. "They're real fast and we shut them down to 27 shots and they have one of the best offences in the league." The next Bomber home game is Nov. 21 against the Nipawin Hawks.
