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.
Patience is important with most things, but when it comes to hockey, Bomber fans have none left. They're hungry for the playoffs like a homeless person searching for food. Fans haven't been able to enjoy the best season hockey, the playoffs, since 2001 when the team hosted the Royal Bank Cup. Major player trades were made to ensure victory. The only problem is that the future was sacrificed for the sake of championship glory. Since then the team has struggled and have burned through coaches. It's unknown if the majority of Flin Flon will be popping the champagne bottle with the news that Ryan Hoffman is no longer running the show, but there are those who are. During the home exhibition game against La Ronge, one fan yelled out for Hoffman to start packing his bags. Unbelievable, considering it was only exhibition. Later he was booed along with Clayton Geiger during the home-opener. A friend of mine used to say that Rome wasn't built overnight-he was referring to his beloved New York Rangers-enough said. That team is the saddest story of any struggling hockey team in the history of the game. They are likely the sole reason the NHL has a salary cap. There is pressure there from management, and of course the fans. The same goes with the Bombers. Hoffman was expected to turn things around. While he had what the board considered a good rookie season behind the bench with a record of 17-28-12-3, things tailed off. Former Bomber goalie Dale Pettit once said that "You have to be good to be lucky, and lucky to be good." The Bombers have been pretty unlucky so far, so does that mean they are bad? Some fans may say yes, depending on who you talk to. It might not be right or fair to blame Bomber fans for what happened to Hoffman, but it has to be taken into consideration for the simple fact it must have been difficult for himself and the players to perform under so much pressure. The Bomber board made a decision based on the first 10 games of the season and president Duke Rodnisky felt the trigger had to be pulled. When the Bombers hire a new experienced coach, if he is able to right the ship, does he get all the credit? Don't forget that Hoffman had to salvage the Bombers from the disaster that bombed this organization with the players he brought in. One of the interesting things about sports is that people love to point fingers. The only person who gets the blame for the Bombers, statistically, being the worst team in the league right now is Hoffman. What about the board? Shouldn't they take some responsibility for it? Sure they're correcting the problem now, but perhaps hiring an experienced coach, which they are doing now should have been done the first time. This would make sense for an organization that wants playoff hockey. No one will ever know if Hoffman would have had the Bombers in a playoff position by November 15. It will always be the subject of opinion, as wells as the patience factor, but Rodnisky and the board ran out of that.
