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.
Winning and losing for some teams can come down to specialty teams, something the Flin Flon Bombers are aware of. "We're really focussing on our special teams and our PK (penalty-killing) has been pretty good," Bombers coach Ryan Hoffman says, "but we're gonna face an excellent power play Saturday, Sunday against Battlefords'." Hoffman isn't lying as the North Stars own the second best power play as of Sept. 29 with an efficiency rate of 29 per cent, while their penalty-killing is fourth best at 81 per cent. "We did score a few goals on the weekend," says Hoffman, about the Bombers' power play. "We had three against Humboldt. I think it's coming around, but we're still working on it to fine tune that and generate more offense." The Bombers' power play is 6-37 for 16 per cent, ranking them eighth in the 12-team league. If the Bombers can improve their rating, teams are going to think twice about taking penalties against them. The team moves the puck around well, but there are times where they should simply shoot the puck more. This is something defenseman Blake McCullough agrees with. "It's a combination of things," he explains. "As defenseman, we're getting a couple shots blocked at the point, and we are getting shots through and there's not traffic in front of the net so it's just a matter of five guys being on the same page out there. The team has to get more traffic in front of the net, get more greasy goals as they don't have to be all pretty." The team knows they have to be careful with taking penalties against the North Stars and this isn't a concern area for their coach. "I think our discipline has been pretty good so far this year," he says. "We haven't taken a bunch of real bad undisciplined penalties." In fact, the Bombers are taking an average of just under six a game. The only game in which they have taken more penalties was against Yorkton, which went 2-10 on the man-advantage. "I've been pretty happy with that thus far and if we can maintain our discipline and get our feet moving and eliminate some obstructions penalties, then we should be able to stay off the kill," says Hoffman. Before the team concerns itself with the North Stars, they have to beat the Klippers, a team they are chasing for a coveted playoff spot. "They lost a lot of fire power last year," he says. "While they may not have that this year, they generated their goals off of hardwork and have a fairly balanced attack." That attack is led by defenseman Brady Larock, who has seven points in as many games, followed by forward Brodie Zuk, who has six points in seven games. The remaining offensive production is spread out among 15 players including the two leading scorers. Hoffman added that it's easy to play a team and focus on shutting down one or two guys, who may be a teams' entire offensive threat, but maintains what his team has to do is stay focussed shift after shift. "We've got to be ready to go from the drop of the puck," says Hoffman. "We kind of got caught on our heels at the beginning of some games, we've got to come out hungry and ready to get the first win." Bombers' defenseman David Holinaty knows the team has been playing better, but realizes what needs to be done. "We all know we have to take it up another notch, another level or two," he explains, "and we've been practicing real hard this week so this weekend we should come out flying." As the Bombers head onto the road, they will have to earn their first victory without Blake Rolston, who suffered a back injury against Yorkton, and the team is waiting for a medical report on his status. Zane Kalemba will be backed up by Travis Crickard, who is still recovering from a concussion suffered against the Notre Dame Hounds. One change to the line-up will involve forward Andrew Leslie being promoted to the top line, replacing Brett Needham.9/30/2005
