Having ended the season two wins shy of a league championship, Mike Reagan just couldn’t say no to the Flin Flon Bombers.
Reagan has agreed to a one-year contract to return for his 10th season as head coach and general manager of the club.
“After the season that we had I felt that it was best to come back and try to complete the job that we were so close to accomplishing this year,” he said.
Reagan said talks on the new deal lasted a week, maybe a week and a half, before he and the organization came to terms on a deal last Thursday, May 5.
“Typically you don’t come to an agreement in one day,” he said.
Under Reagan the Bombers have reached the playoffs in nine consecutive seasons, their longest post-season streak since the 1950s and early ’60s.
He has accumulated a record of 277 wins, 192 losses, 25 overtime losses and 18 shootout losses in 512 regular-season games, but a championship has been elusive.
A league title remains Reagan’s goal, and that objective hardly seems Pollyannaish with 19 players eligible to return from last season’s squad.
Asked whether the 2016-17 edition is shaping up to be the best club of his tenure, Reagan preferred not to delve into comparisons.
“Is it going to be the most skilled team we’ve ever had? Probably not, but last year’s team wasn’t the most skilled team, either, but it was the best team as far as playing a system and buying in and doing what we needed to do to be successful,” he said. “So at the end of the day I’m not looking to have the most talented team we’ve ever had. I’m looking to build off of what we accomplished this year and just be the best team possible.”
Reagan sees encouraging signs that the enthusiasm the Bombers generated with their extended playoff run will endure in the coming season.
“From the talks that I’ve had with people within the town, a lot of people are excited about next year already, and I think that’s a real positive,” he said. “We haven’t had that in a while, where people are itching for the hockey season [when] we haven’t even had summer [yet]. So I think that’s a positive. I would like to think that we got the passion back into the community for the Bombers and I think that that will carry over. I think there’s a lot of people that hadn’t been back to the rink in a long time that got to watch some exciting hockey, and hopefully that’s going to bring them back to the rink next year.”
While Reagan’s focus is now on 2016-17, in the back of his mind he knows this could be his final campaign with the Bombers.
“Let’s just say it’s getting to the point where for my career I’m looking to possibly move on, but in saying that I never say never and obviously am very passionate about the Bombers and the community,” he said. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to come back again. I’m just going to worry about this year and this year only for right now, and [I’m] excited about the challenge of getting back to where we were at the end of this year.”
In terms of where his coaching career may ultimately take him, Reagan is maintaining an open mind.
“I’d really like to get down to the US and be coaching Division 1 hockey, but in saying that possibly [a] Western League assistant coaching job and maybe a head coaching job at some point,” he said. “But really open to anything.”
Reagan has at times spoken of the pressure that locally born players face in playing for the Bombers given the passion of the team’s fan base.
As a local product himself, he says he feels that pressure as well. But it’s all good.
“[They’re] very passionate fans, and they can be critical at times, but are the best fans in the league,” Reagan said of the Bomber faithful. “ I’d rather have fans that are passionate than people that don’t care.”
Flin Flon Bombers president Hank Kosar could not be reached for comment for this article.
