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.
The Flin Flon Bombers will finish the 2003 portion of their schedule with two games this weekend. On Friday they will be in La Ronge to take on the Ice Wolves, before returning to the Whitney Forum on Saturday to complete the home-and-home series. With two wins this weekend, the Bombers would vault ahead of the Ice Wolves and Melfort Mustangs and out of the basement of the Dodge Conference, with games in hand over both teams. Although the Bombers have not lost to the Wolves yet this season, with one win and two ties, they can't afford to slow down heading into the break. "The guys know that this is a big series for us," said assistant coach Dustin Ernest. "Our goal is to get all four points. We have to work hard down low against their skilled forwards. They've got a couple slippery guys, so if we play physical in our end, I think we will be okay." Kyle Gladue and Jeff Marshall do most of the scoring for La Ronge, with 39 and 35 points respectively. The Bombers will have to play smart in their own end to contain those two. Flin Flon will be without their top offensive threat Andrew Skrabek, who will miss both games due to a suspension. They will look to guys like Kyle Holmes and Stewart Sjoberg to step up and provide some offense, along with Joey Moggach and Anatoliy Moshkovsky. On the point, Jeff LaPointe, Derek Gallagher and Simon McCusker have been regular contributors. Last time the two teams played each other, the Bombers handled the Ice Wolves with a 4-1 win at the Whitney Forum. The Ice Wolves have been on a skid lately, and haven't won a game since November 28. They are 0-5-1 so far in December. The Bombers have had their best month in three years to date, winning three of their last five games. One area that Flin Flon hopes to take advantage of is special teams. On the power play this season, the Bombers are operating at 19.1%, good for second overall in the SJHL, while the Ice Wolves are ninth, at 15.4%. Killing penalties, the Bombers are ninth at 81.1% thanks to a couple of breakdowns against Melville, but La Ronge is dead last at 74.3%. "They are on a six game winless streak, so they have something to prove," said Ernest. "Larry (Wintoneak) will have his boys ready to go; he always will against Flin Flon. We have to be ready to go, and outwork them to get the four points. If we can go in there and get a greasy win in the first game, we will be all right coming home." Game time on Saturday night is 7:30 p.m. at the Whitney Forum. 12/19/2003
