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A full season of Flin Flon Bomber hockey will soon get underway and the team hopes to make it one to remember.
The Bombers will start their 94th season with a home-and-home series with the division rival Melfort Mustangs - first on the road Sept. 24, then a home opener at the Whitney Forum Sept. 25.
This year’s Bomber roster will look similar to the crew that started last season, sans WHL loan players - the club retained both its goalies, Cal Schell and Jared Thompson, as well as eight forwards and five (possibly six) defenders.
“I think we have a good idea of where we’re at,” said head coach and general manager Mike Reagan.
Defence
The Bombers’ defence is lacking in overagers - Cole Vardy is the team’s sole 20-year-old defenceman - but it’s hardly lacking in talent. The only Bomber with an NCAA Division I scholarship so far is Xavier Lapointe, a likely defenceman of the year candidate who has joined a handful of friends and former teammates with the Bombers this season. Lapointe, who is bound to go to the Rochester Insitute of Technology (RIT) Tigers next season, will be one of the team’s top players.
“He’s been everything we expected and more,” Reagan said.
“As far as what he brings to the table, he's a true number one defenceman in junior hockey. Not only does he create on offence, but I love his compete defensively. He competes hard and he cares - he's not just a one-trick pony. You can get a lot of guys with his offensive ability that will cheat defensively and he doesn’t - he cares about being good in his own end.”
Vardy will return to the Bombers after not playing at all last year - a late-season shoulder injury he suffered back in the 2019-20 season required surgery and rehab. That shoulder is fixed and Vardy is hungry to get back.
“He’s looked really good so far, with him having surgery last year and having a full year of recovery. I think there's still work to do to catch up, but he's not as far behind as we thought he might be,” Reagan said.
Other defenders have also cemented their spot through preseason success, like Reece Richmond, the brother of ex-Bomber Ryder, and Lucas Fry - Reagan describes him as a “steady Eddie” on the blueline who can kill penalties and calm things down. Local boy Jordan Pfoh earned a spot on the team through his two-way and offensive game, while Luke Schaeffer, who last played U18 AA hockey, made the team through hard work in practice. Cole Tanchuk made the roster despite being 17 years old - Reagan says he “has a promising future and continues to get better every game.”
“We’re amazed at his poise with the puck and his hockey IQ.”
A ninth man, returning defender Ethan McColm, could also be a part of the Bombers’ fortunes this season. McColm started camp with the Bombers, but headed to Saskatoon midway through to join training camp with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. If he makes the team, he’ll stay in the city - if not, he’ll likely come back up north.
“There’s the potential that he could be back with us,” Reagan said.
There’s little drama with where the Bombers’ goalies sit. Both have played well through the exhibition season in Reagan’s estimation. Schell will start the season with the number one job.
“We've been extremely happy with goaltending. Schell’s looked really good. Thompson's played really well in his minutes,” Reagan said.
Forwards
Up front, the picture is a little more fuzzy. Injuries to three key players - Mackenzie Carson, Jeremi Tremblay and Jacob Vockler - have kept Reagan from seeing his forward group at full strength, but what he has seen has impressed him.
Jaeden Mercier will lead off a eight-man group of returnees, including former Saskatchewan U18 AAA star Cole Duperreault, two-way centre Jaxon Martens, sniper Nathan Gagne, agitator extraordinaire Matt Raymond, power forward Mason Kaspick, slick shooter Carson and centre Drayden Kurbatoff.
Joining the group is an assortment of other talent, including Vockler and Tremblay. Manitoba wingers Matt Egan and Dean Gorchynski will start the season, along with big centre Cabrel LaBossiere. Nathan Flodell, the kid brother of ex-Bomber captain Matt Flodell, will stay with the club, as will former first round bantam draft pick Kylynn Olafson. Gabriel Shipper, a smooth-skating, sneaky 2001-born forward from California, will also be a part of the roster.
While the names are settled, where they fit is not. The injuries haven’t helped and line combinations and the team’s chart will be written not in stone, but in pencil.
“I think the one disappointing thing is we've had some guys that have been banged up up front, so we haven't been able to see where everybody fits exactly yet. That's been the difficult part. We have an idea, but we don’t know,” Reagan said.
“I think you typically like to be able to go into your last exhibition game with something very close to your final roster, but we're not going to be able to do that. That sucks, but it is what it is.”
New faces
The Bombers also got some late camp reinforcement courtesy of a new acquisition from the AJHL Brett Wieschorster, a 20-year-old winger from the Camrose Kodiaks, has headed north after a deal was cut to bring him to Flin Flon.
Wieschorster, who was released by the Kodiaks before the Bombers signed him, will bring some size to the Bomber lineup - at 6-foot-3, the Sherwood Park, Alta. native will be one of the Bombers’ tallest players. He will also be the most experienced, having four previous seasons of junior hockey and 152 regular season junior A games under his belt. In the 2019-20 season, which he split between the Sherwood Park Crusaders and the Kodiaks, Wieschorster had 19 points in 41 games played, adding 123 minutes in the box for good measure.
“We brought him and he will be in the lineup. He’s a big kid, 6’3’’, power forward, adds toughness to our lineup and makes us tougher to play against,” Reagan said.
“I think he makes our top six better and we were looking for a 20-year-old with experience who could do that. The fact that he’s going into his fifth year of junior A hockey tells you something about his ability to play, from a young age. I think he’s going to keep a lot of teams honest.”
Wieschorster is also a former teammate of Bomber acquisition Nick Magis - the two played together with the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Magis was snagged by the Bombers in a trade with the Crusaders which sent a player development fee and the junior A rights to Rhett Rhinehart earlier this month. Magis hasn’t yet reported to the Bombers as of press time, but Reagan is hopeful the other 20-year-old Albertan will see the light now that he’s got a friend up here.
“Let’s just say there’s some method to my madness,” Reagan quipped.
Leadership
While many questions with this year’s team have been answered, one hasn’t been - who will wear the Bombers’ C and As for captain and assistant captain. Reagan usually names the team’s captains during preseason, but said he plans to hold off until after the season begins.
“We won't be starting the year with a captain. We don't even know if we're going to have letters on any jerseys to start the season,” said the coach.
“With everything that went on in the last year, there's some guys that now are veteran players that we're not exactly sure where they fit, as far as the leadership group is concerned. We want to make sure that we're putting the right guys in those positions to be successful.”
