The Flin Flon Bombers have inked six new players in preparation for the upcoming season.
The team’s first officially announced signing of the offseason came on June 6, when 18-year-old defenseman Ryder Richmond joined the club.
Richmond split last season between the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings and the midget AAA Yellowhead Chiefs. In 20 games with the Kings, Richmond tallied five assists, while scoring 15 points in 32 games on the Chiefs’ blue line.
The native of Forrest, Man. weighs in at 181 pounds and is 5’8”. During his time with the Chiefs last season, Richmond played with Flin Flon products Jeremy and Tanner Dutcawich.
On June 7, the Bombers officially added defenceman Jaxon White. White will be a familiar face to some Bomber fans. Not only did the 18-year-old defenseman attend the team’s training camp last year, he also played three games for the Bombers as an affiliated player. White spent most of the season playing with the Beardy’s Blackhawks, where he scored 18 points in 43 games. White was taken 23rd overall by the Bombers in the 2015 SJHL bantam draft.
The Blackhawks program has proven to be a good source of talent for the Bombers, with three players on last year’s team – defenseman Isaac Jackson and forwards Brody Madarash and Nick Shumlanski – each having played for the team previously. In addition, one of White’s teammates with Beardy’s, forward Tristan Weigel, played one game as an affiliate player with the Bombers last season.
Forward Billy Klymchuk, who signed with the Bombers on June 8, is a graduate of the Winnipeg Thrashers, a midget AAA club that had no fewer than five former players – forwards Dylan Burton, Brandson Hein, Nate Hooper and Dawson McKenzie and defenseman Mason Martin – suit up for the Bombers last season. The 6’0”, 165-pound 18-year-old forward was nearly a point-per-game player for the Thrashers last season, finishing with 44 points in 48 games, including 32 assists.
The team also added 17-year-old forward David Hibbs, who signed on June 9. Hibbs played last season with the Tri Pen Osprey midget AAA team in Newfoundland, where he led his team in scoring with 37 points in 31 games. The youngest of the team’s six recent recruits, Hibbs is 6’2”, 205 pounds and originally from Bay Roberts, Nfld.
Hibbs is not the only player from Newfoundland who has signed with the Bombers. 16-year-old defenseman Paul Norman formally signed with the club on June 11.
Norman won a provincial midget AAA title with the St. John’s Maple Leafs this season, leading his team in scoring by a defenseman with 24 points in 25 games and adding three points in the playoffs. The 6’0”, 168 pound defenseman will turn 17 before the Bombers’ training camp in August. Typically, Canadian junior A players cannot play for a team in a different province before they turn 18. However, since Newfoundland and Labrador does not have a junior A league or any junior A teams, both Hibbs and Norman are eligible to sign with Flin Flon.
Goaltender Hunter Young also signed with the Bombers, with the team announcing his signing on June 11. Young, an 18-year-old goaltender from Okotoks, AB, played last season with his hometown Okotoks Oilers in the Alberta midget AAA hockey league, the team’s first season in the league. In 18 games, Young had a goals-against-average of 3.88. Young is 6’1” and 165 pounds.
The six players are each expected to show for the Bombers’ training camp, tentatively scheduled for late August at the Whitney Forum.
