After missing 12 games with an injury, Tristan Lemyre is thrilled to be back contributing to the Flin Flon Bombers.
The rookie from Mirabel, Que. played Sept. 28 and was out of the lineup until Nov. 8. He said it was extremely frustrating to miss so much time.
“I thought I was playing well before my injury and missing six weeks was a setback to my season,” Lemyre said.
“I feel better recently and I'm starting to feel as good as I did before my injury.”
On the ice, Lemyre is making up for lost time. With the high-scoring Donavan Houle-Villeneuve out of the lineup, Lemyre racked up 10 points in three games last week as Flin Flon went 2-1. He scored a hattrick in an impressive 10-1 drubbing of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League-leading Battlefords North Stars.
“Tristan Lemyre was unreal,” Bombers head coach Mike Reagan said.
“We knew he was going to be good, but his confidence is real high right now and he continues to get better. He’s the best rookie in the league and he is proving that.”
At the end of a three-games-in-three-nights road trip, the Bombers fell 3-2 on Friday to Battlefords before rolling past them by nine goals on Saturday. As of Dec. 15, Flin Flon had a 24-7-4-0 record and trailed Battlefords (27-6-2-0) by just six points in the standings. Reagan said his team was focused against the North Stars.
“We approached the games like it was a playoff series and we needed to get at least one,” he said.
“We liked our game Friday and thought we could have won that one. We hit three posts and were five seconds away from killing off a penalty before they scored. Little things make the biggest differences and we just made one too many mistakes.
“Our puck management was so much better in game two and we were crisp in executing.”
The trip started off with a 5-4 victory over Humboldt. Flin Flon took a 2-0 lead early, but Humboldt knotted things up at 2-2 before the first intermission. The Bombers went ahead 3-2, but the Broncos scored twice to lead 4-3 going into the third. Cole Rafuse and Alex Malo each scored in the final period to help lift Flin Flon to the win.
“I think lately we know we can come back,” Reagan said.
“That one was a tough one as we had bus problems and arrived 20 minutes before warmup. We were lucky to be up 2-0 and then we played foolish - turning over pucks and trying to do too much. But we challenged the guys between the second and third and they responded.”
The 5-foot-9, 165-pound Lemyre had a goal and four points against the Broncos. On Friday, he scored both of Flin Flon’s goals in the loss to the North Stars. Lemyre wrapped up the road trip with his first SJHL hat trick and four points in the big win over Battlefords.
For the season, the talented forward has 16 goals and 30 points in 22 games. Even though he has missed a lot of games, Lemyre was ranked second in the SJHL in rookie scoring, as of Dec. 15.
“Tristan has been outstanding since he came back from injury,” Reagan said.
“He is extremely fast and has a great work ethic. He is a guy that wants to be a good player. He works towards that. He will be a (NCAA) Division 1 player and whatever school he goes to will be lucky to have him.”
Lemyre grew up in Mirabel, Que., which is in the Montreal area. Before coming to Flin Flon, he did not know any of his teammates. Lemyre met Reagan a couple summers ago and kept in touch. It was that relationship and a “good feeling,” that drew him to Flin Flon.
Lemyre, who played last season for Newbridge Academy in Dartmouth, N.S., is glad he opted to join the Bombers.
“What I have enjoyed the most so far about playing for the Bombers would be the way we are treated and given an opportunity to improve our game,” said Lemyre, who billets with Tara and Dave Pickell.
“The energy there is at the home games - the fans are unbelievable here.”
