Well the talking is over and now it's time to play some hockey. The Flin Flon Bombers and Nipawin Hawks will kick off their best of 7 SJHL Semi- Final tonight at the Whitney Forum.

This is the matchup people were expecting and hoping for as it is only a 4 hour trek and one of the best rivalries in this league.

I remember the last two playoff meetings vividly including the 2001 matchup when the Hawks stopped the Bombers Royal Bank Cup quest in 5 games in the Division Final. Flin Flon gained revenge in 2013 when Mike Reagan's crew beat the Hawks in 6.

The two communities really get involved and it is pure electricity in both buildings and shows you what playoff hockey is all about. I remember having goose bumps waiting for the puck to drop in one of the most intense series I ever called in both 2001 and 2013.

These two teams match up very well and ended up tied for second overall with 83 points, but the Bombers took 7 out of 8 meetings and were awarded the second seed.

The biggest surprise for me was that Flin Flon won all 4 games at the Cage and I don't remember that ever happening before in the 20 plus years I have travelled to Nipawin.

Despite the Bombers success against the Hawks this year, Mike Reagan is quick to point out they are anything but over confident and remembers their regular season record against Weyburn last year and look how that turned out.

Depth continues to be the marker for both these teams and Flin Flon has a lot of guys who can score. Flin Flon had 5 players in the top 20 in scoring including Greyson Reitmeier who took the scoring race with  79 points including 28 goals.

Jason Lavallee (30-37), Rylee Zimmer (21-43), Nick Shumlanski (17-39) and Eric Sinclair (17-34) were the other Bombers to finish in the top 20.

Nipawin is also deep up front with Bly and Milligan finishing in the top 20 in scoring. Both these players were added in trades with Bly coming over from Kindersley and Milligan was obtained from Melville on January the 10th.

The Hawks also got Bolden back from College and Brandon Arnold from the WHL'S Swift Current Broncos and I don't think anyone bolstered their lineup as much as Nipawin did in the second half. Doug's crew have lost out to Melfort the past couple of seasons and were only within a goal from going to the league final last year.

Kristian Stead is the rock of this team and was awarded the league's best goalie and went 29-12-1 with a league best 7 shut-outs. For what ever reason he struggled against the Bombers and was just 1-5 in the head to head meetings and fought the puck in many of those games.

Zac Robidoux has carried the mail this post season and was in between the pipes for all 4 wins against Notre Dame and played the Hawks very well this year including back to back shut outs to close out the season. Robidoux who already has a national title under his belt knows all about playing in the big games and handles his emotions as well as anyone I have ever seen.

Both teams should be well rested with the Hawks enjoying a 7 day break and the Bombers have been off for the last 6.

This series will be a lot of fun to watch and call and I fully expect to see lots of fans travelling back and forth for what could be a deep series. Most people expect to see at least 6 games and we will start to watch it unfold tonight.

Remember every Bomber moment will be captured on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com starting with the Murray GM Coach's Show at 7:15 tonight, drop of the puck at 7:30.

We are at the Cage tomorrow with the Murray GM Coach's Show at 8:15, play by play at 8:30.

Another proud day for the Flin Flon Bomber organization as another one of their players has received a Division 1 Scholarship. This is the 4th one awarded to Flin Flon this year.

Congratulations to St. Brieux's Corey Thomas who is on his way to play for Vermont starting next year.

Thomas suited up in 49 regular season games picking up 10 points (2 goals and 8 assists), and was one of two Bombers to represent his country in the World JR.A Challenge which took place in Bonnyville Alberta back in December.

The Phantom Lake Soccer Club is looking for coach's for the upcoming season. No experience is required and they will provide you with courses and clinic/workshops in order  to prepare you for this season.

If you are interested in coaching this year you can contact them at phantomlakesoccer@gmail.com and they will forward information to you.

Their AGM is taking place on Monday April the 10th, 7pm at the Victoria Inn Northern room. Everyone welcome.

The Flin Flon Bombers and Nipawin Hawks will kickoff their best of 7 SJHL Semi Final this Friday.

Here is the complete schedule with MB times.

Friday March 31st- 7:30 Flin Flon

Saturday April 1st- 8:30 Nipawin

Tuesday April 4th- 7:30 Flin Flon

Wednesday April 5th-8:30 Nipawin

if necessary

Friday April 7th-7:30 Flin Flon

Sunday April 9th- 7pm Nipawin

Tuesday April 11th-830 Flin Flon

There is a new Hudbay hockey champion this year as the Electricians beat the defending champs the Zinc Plant 11-4 in yesterday's A-Final at the Whitney Forum.

The Zinc Plant had no answer for Chris Bortis who picked up 5 points including the hat-trick in the win Sunday afternoon.

The Carpenters won the B-side doubling up Snow Lake 4-2 on a strong goaltending performance from Johnathon Faktor.

Triple 7 took the C-side with a 8-5 win over the Boiler-Makers.

Flin Flon Minor Hockey handed out their league awards at their year end banquet this past Wednesday at the Flin Flon Community Hall.

Here are all the award winners

Novice

Most Improved- Brody Flynn

Most Sportsmanlike- Hailey Biberdorf

Best Defenseman- Brody Grant

Top Goalie- Bailey Schwartz

Most Inspirational- Owen Qui

MVP- Logan Simon and Brayden Church

Atom

Most Improved- Tyson Krieger

Most Sportsmanlike- Nikoli Tetoff

Best Defenseman- Grayson Laderoute and Jake Brown

Top Goalie- Logan Grenier

Most Inspirational- Braden O'Hare

MVP- Jake Brown

Pee Wee

Most Improved- Carson Straile

Most Sportsmanlike- Paxton Dareichuk

Best Defenseman- Austin Weseen

Top Goalie- Lia Yaworski

Most Inspirational- Nolan Rideout and Wyatt Stinton

MVP- Magnus Pearson

It wasn't easy but the Flin Flon Bombers are moving on to the SJHL Semi- Finals after beating Notre Dame 2-1 Friday night to take the best of 7 Quarter Final 4 games to 1.

The Bombers came out flying in the first period and scored two quick goals from Brody Madarash and Greyson Reitmeier on the power play, to jump out 2-0 before the game was even 9 minutes old.

For Madarash it was his first ever playoff goal and had to be a thrill for his  dad Tim who was in attendance and is a former Bomber who is the all time  franchise leader in games, goals and points.

Madarash was able to grab a rebound in front of the Hound net and tuck a back hand under a fallen Benjamin Patt to send the home town crowd into a frenzy.

It looked like to me the Bombers would blow the doors off the Hounds but Benjamin Patt was able to make a number of big saves and no question was the reason Notre Dame was able to stay in the game.

The Hounds found the back of the net late in the first period when Ben Duperreault scored his 7th of the post season with a perfect wrist shot off the post with just over 3 minutes remaining in the first to get Notre Dame back in the contest.

The 2-1 Bomber lead would hold up for the rest of the game as both goalies went to work and wound up being big stories from game 5.

Patt was incredible and did everything he could to give his team a chance to steal game 5 at the Whitney. Patt ended up stopping 39 out of 41 shots and made a number of big saves on a Bomber 5 on 3 late in the second period and also came up big a number of times in the third.

Zac Robidoux wasn't as busy stopping 20 out of 21 shots but came up big when he had to and had very good rebound control and looked as confident and poised as I have ever seen him look. You can tell he has played in a lot of big games.

I would like to congratulate Notre Dame on a hard fought series and was impressed how they came to play each game with the youngest team in the league. Flin Flon is a lot older and experienced, but the Hounds were not intimidated and gave it everything they had.

The Bombers will get a 6 day rest before opening up their SJHL Semi- Final with Nipawin at the Whitney Forum Friday March the 31st.

Flin Flon took 7 out of 8 from the Hawks in the head to head meetings including back to back shut outs to close out the regular season. We will have a preview of the Semi-Final and a complete schedule of the games later in the week.

The 26th annual Hudbay Hockey tournament is underway and here is the schedule for this weekend.

Saturday

10:30  Carpenters VS Snow Lake

12 noon Electrical VS 777

1:30 Power House VS Zinc Plant

3pm  Boilermakers VS Snow Lake

Playoffs

5:30  6th VS 7TH

7PM  4TH VS 5TH

8:30  2ND VS 3RD

Sunday

11:30- C-Final

1pm- B-Final

2:30- A-Final

The 26th annual Hudbay Hockey Tournament will take place this weekend at the Whitney Forum.

Depending on what happens with the Bombers in Notre Dame will determine when the tournament starts.

If the Bombers play at the Whitney Friday, then the HB tournament will be Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

If there is no Bomber game then the tournament will go Friday through Sunday.

The Zinc Plant are the defending champs and we will have the complete schedule once it is released.

The SR Creighton Kodiak Girls wrapped up their basketball season this past weekend at Regionals in Wynyard

Creighton lost a thriller to Osler to open things up Friday night in a game that went back and forth and ended up in Osler's favour when it was all said and done.

That would knock the Kodiaks down to the Consolation , where Creighton turned it up beating Stobart 83-37 to take the Regional Consolation Final to finish 9th in the province.

That is a very good showing when you consider Creighton was the smallest high school competing in the provincial event.

The Flin Flon Ski Club hosted the 42nd annual Val and Ivor Hedman Centaloppet yesterday afternoon. There was a great turn out with lots of families and skiers of all ages.

When it was all said and done the prestigious Centaloppet Cup went to Fran Reibin , with Caleb Baynton finishing as the runner up and Ron Black came third.

Fastest actual times by category

Senior Male (20 plus) Callum Spencer- 10 minutes 21 seconds

Senior Female (20 plus) Lola Leclair- 18:37

Junior Men (15-19) Nathan Whitbread- 9:42

Junior Women (15-19) Hannah Baynton- 13:47

Boys (14 and under) David Richard-10:16

Girls (14 and under)Sarah Factor-12:19

The oldest skier was Tony Spooner and the youngest skier was 4 year old Charlotte Unrau, and the Unraus were the larges family with 5 participants.

A big thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this event so much fun and the highlight of the Flin Flon ski season.

It was the start the Flin Flon Bombers were looking for in taking game's one and two at the Whitney Forum to open up the best of 7 SJHL Quarter Final this past weekend.

Flin Flon took both contests Friday and Saturday by scores of 4-1.

St. Onge, Lesko and Lavallee are leading the way with 2 goals a piece in the opening two games. Other goals have come from Sinclair and Boyle Alberta's Rylan Tkachuk who scored his first ever SJHL playoff goal which stood up  as the game winner on Saturday night.

Tkachuk grabbed the puck at center ice and stormed in to beat Benjamin Patt underneath the bar and was greeted by a thunderous ovation from his team-mates and fans.

This couldn't of happened to a better guy as Tkachuk is loved by his team-mates and is the ultimate team player who always has a big smile on his face and loves being part of the Bombers.

Zac Robidoux was good when he had to be stopping 39 out of 41 shots in the two games. Benjamin Patt has been a lot more busy stopping 82 out of 90.

The story for me in the opening two games has been timely goals from the Bombers including Lavallee answering Nick Rein's early goal in game 1. Just 49 seconds later Lavallee tied it and the Bombers have not trailed in the series since the 11 minute mark of the first period in game one.

Lavallee also had a big goal in game two when he scored just 1:07 into the third to answer a late second period power play goal from the Hounds. This is big when you think Lavallee didn't have a single playoff goal in last year's run.

The Bombers look good and if you take away the first 10 minutes from Friday they have pretty much been in control and look forward to hitting the big ice in Wilcox.

Notre Dame was definately missing SJHL Rookie Of The Year Adam Dawe who didn't dress in either game. Dawe was key for the Hounds eliminating Melfort in the Wild Card scoring 6 points in 4 games. His status for game 3 in not known.

They say you are never in trouble in a series til you lose at home, so the Hounds are still very much alive and you can bet they will be ready for game three on Tuesday.

Notre Dame took both meetings with the Bombers on home ice this year and being a young club they play much better at the Duncan McNeil Arena.

You can hear games three and four from Wilcox Tuesday and Wednesday night with Mike Stackhouse on the call. We hit the air waves both nights at 8:15 MB time with the Murray GM Coach's Show.

Well the wait is finally over as the Flin Flon Bombers will meet the Notre Dame Hounds in their best of 7 SJHL Quarter Final Series starting tonight at the Whitney Forum.

This will be their second playoff meeting in the past three years with Notre Dame winning in OT in game 7 back in 2015.

Flin Flon comes into tonight's game well rested after beating Nipawin 4-0 to close out the regular season on March the 7th. The Hounds are fresh off beating the back to back Canalta Cup Champion Melfort Mustangs in the SJHL Wild-Card 3 games to 1,  with a 5-2 win  right in Melfort Tuesday night.

The Bombers finished the regular season 22 points ahead of the Hounds but Mike Reagan knows they will not be an easy team to beat. They split their four regular season matchups with both teams winning on home ice.

Flin Flon took both at the Whitney by scores of 4-0 and 6-4, while Notre Dame took both in Wilcox by scores of 4-0 and a 3-2 win in their last matchup February the 4th.

The Hounds have been a better team since re-acquiring goaltender Benjamin Patt January the 10th. Patt went 9-5-3-1-1 down the stretch and is known to be able to steal games. He will have to be their best player if Notre Dame is going to pull the upset.

We all know how good Ben Duperreault and Adam Dawe have been. Duperreault shared the scoring title and RBC player of the year with the Bomber's Greyson Reitmeier. Both players picked up 79 points with Reitmeier picking up 28 goals and 51 assists in 58 games while Duperreault led the league with goals with 37 to go along with 42 assists in 57 games.

Dawe was the SJHL Rookie Of The Year picking up 64 points in 54 games including 19 goals and 45 assists.

Both players combined for 12 points in their Wild-Card win over Melfort. As good as these two players have been, Notre Dame feel they have plenty more and will give the Bombers all they want in this series.

Flin Flon has a more balanced attack and ended up with 5 players in the top 20 in league scoring including Reitmeier, Lavallee,Zimmer,Sinclair and Shumlanski.

The Bombers were almost unbeatable at the Whitney Forum this year going 22-3-2-2 and proved they could win on the road finishing up at 17-11-0-1. The Hounds struggled on the road going 9-14-4-2 and were better at the Duncan McNeil Arena at 17-9-3-0.

One of Mike Reagan's goals was to be better on the road this year and they succeeded which I think will be a factor in this series.

Flin Flon was just 2 wins from a Canalta Cup Trophy last spring and I know they are confident they can get their again. They are anything from being cocky and have  developed  very good team chemistry  and players have stepped up to accept their different roles.

This will be a fun group to watch and follow again this year. All Bomber playoff games will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

Here is the complete schedule

Fri Mar 17  Flin Flon 7:30

Sat Mar 18  Flin Flon 7:30

Tues Mar 21-  Notre Dame 8:30

Wed Mar 22- Notre Dame 8:30

if neccessary

Fri Mar 24- Flin Flon 7:30

Sun Mar 26- Notre Dame 8:30

Tues Mar 28 Flin Flon 7:30

The SJHL Quarter Final Series will kick off tonight with Notre Dame in Flin Flon, Humboldt at Nipawin, Weyburn travelling to Battleford and Yorkton visiting Estevan.

This has been a tradition the last few years where Mike Stackhouse and myself get together to break down each series and give our predictions on who will be moving on.

You can hear that interview here.

https://soundcloud.com/102-9-cfar-podcasts/sjhl-playoff-preview-w-mike-stackhouse-rob-hart

The Creighton Kodiak SR Girls basketball season will continue as they move on to Regionals in Wynyard this weekend.

16 teams will be vying for a Provincial title including Creighton who play their first game against Osler Friday at 8.

If Creighton win they will play Saturday at noon.

The top teams will qualify for Hoopla the following weekend.

Flin Flon Minor Hockey will officially wrap up their season with their awards night  on Wednesday March the 22nd starting at 6 at the Flin Flon Community Hall.

The format will include cake and drinks and league awards will be handed out in  Novice through Pee-Wee including MVP, Most Inspirational,Most Sportsmanlike,Most Improved, Best Defenseman and Top Goaltender.

Team awards will also be presented and their will be door prizes for players and coach's. You must be in attendance to win.

This year's guest speaker will be Dennis Zboril.

The Creighton Kodiak Senior Girls were in Norquay this past weekend for Saskatchewan Basketball Conferences.

The Kodiaks split a pair of games beating Norquay 83-76 on the strength of Kenzie Grant's 47 points. Creighton then dropped a close one to Canora by 4 points, after clawing back from 22 down in the second half to finish the weekend 1-1.

Creighton gets one of the top two seeds and will now move on to Regionals at a location yet to be determined.

Flin Flon hosted the Rural 1 Provincial Pee Wee Championships this past weekend in what turned out to be some very competitive and entertaining hockey.

The host Pee Wee Eddies Family Foods Bombers dropped all 3 games they played to Thompson, Morden and Portage and did not make the playoff round.

Consolation Final

Brandon 3  Portage 2

Bronze

Stonewall 6  Thompson 4

Gold

Macdonald 6   Morden 2.

Congratulations to the host committee who did a great job organizing and hosting this Provincial event.

The 86th annual men's and Ladie's Bonspiels both wrapped up earlier today at the Uptown Curling Club.

There were 26 rinks total with 13 men's and 13 ladie's teams. Here are the results.

Ladies

Main Event

Reierson over Evans

Second Event

Jonhnson beat Chrisp in an extra end

Third Event

Anderson over Kostuchuk

Men's Results

Main Event

Schellenberg defeated Levers

Second Event

Watt beat Tetreault

Third Event

Nawrocki upset McCluckie

The Flin Flon Bombers made it official at a press conference earlier today at the Whitney Forum that they have given Head Coach and GM Mike Reagan a two year contract extension.

Reagan has been the Head Coach since 2007 and has won well over 300 games and is the winningest coach in the Bomber  modern era and the longest serving.

The Bombers have never missed the playoffs since Reagan has been their Head Coach and the team is coming off a Sherwood Division banner and a second overall finish at 39-14-2-3

Flin Flon feel they have unfinshed business after coming so close to winning their first championship since 1993 losing to Melfort in the Canalta Cup Final last spring.

There are 14 players remaining from last year's squad who know  what it takes and the trades Reagan has made to bolster the club have all been very positive including the addition of Eric Sinclair who received the SJHL Best Defenseman Award.

Bomber President Hank Kozar had this to say at today's press conference. " Our biggest thing we have preached is  consistency and familliarity since Mike came on board. Sure we have had different assistant coach's and trainers come here that is part of the process. With Mike here that has been constant and so has our scouting staff and we believe  that this is huge way to show our fans that we are committed to keeping this organization strong."

Reagan's contract will have him with Flin Flon through 2018-19 and he is the longest serving SJHL coach at this time.

The 86th annual Men's and Ladie's Curling Bonspiels will hit the Uptown Curling Club starting tonight.

There are 29 rinks total and here are tonight's two draws.

Men

6:30

Nawrocki VS Kennedy

Eagle VS Watt

Munson VS Tetreault

9PM

Peake VS Shellenberg

Levers VS N.Ford the Pas

McCluckie VS Terry Anderson

Ladies

6:30

T. Kennedy VS L.Nawrocki

Johnson VS Evans

Chrisp VS Kostochuk

9PM

Bryson VS Fehr

Reierson VS Limoges

Hardy VS Tiffany Anderson

All 6 finals will be played Sunday at 1:30.

In front of a very spirited crowd of 700 plus at the Whitney Forum, the Flin Flon Bombers beat the Nipawin Hawks last night  4-0 to pick up first place in the Sherwood Division and grab the second seed overall.

The night started with a tribute to the Werbicki Trucking Bantan AA Bombers who captured a Povincial Championship in Labroquerie this past weekend.

All the coach's and players were introduced right before the game and that got a great response from

everyone in attendance.

The Bombers got the game winner just 2:25 into the opening period when Greyson Reitmeier scored his 28th of the year on the PP flipping a nice backhand past Kristian Stead.

Other Bomber goals came from Shumlanski(17), Lesko (23) and St.Onge (24) with Flin Flon out shooting Nipawin 38-22.

Special teams were a big factor with the Bombers going 3 for 4 on the PP and the Hawks wound up 0 for 4.

How about Zac Robidoux, he picked up his 6th shut out of the year and 11th over his career stopping all 22 Nipawin shots. Robidoux wasn't tested lots in the first couple of periods but was good when he had to be especially early in the third.

Stead was a lot more busy and I thought he fought the puck early in the game and didn't really look cofortable stopping 34 out of 38.

After last night's win the Bombers will finish the regular  season at 39-14-2-3- 83 points and actually tied with the Hawks for first, but Flin Flon gets the tie breaker because they took 7 out of the 8 meetings.

This is the first time I can remember the Bombers winning all 4 games at the Cage and could be very interesting if they meet in the playoffs.

It was a good night for Greyson Reitmeier who picked up 2 more points and that will give him a share of the SJHL scoring title along with Notre Dame's Ben Duppereault.

Reitmeier finish's the season with 79 points including 28 goals and 51 assists while Duppereault ended up with 37 goals and 42 assists.

Since Reitmeier became a Bomber he has been to a league final, committed to Michigan Tech and has a scoring title. The only thing missing is a Championship and you know the Bombers will be working hard on accomplishing that too.

Right from the opening face-off Flin Flon was in control and I thought they wanted it more than the Hawks. This is a veteran group that have a lot of hold overs from last year's run and they look very solid winning 7 out of their last 10 games rolling into the post season.

Flin Flon will get the weekend off and prepare for the winner of Notre Dame and Melfort who begin their Survivor Series on Friday. The Bombers will have home ice for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs and will most likely open up their post season a week from this Friday.

Nipawin will fiinish 4th overall and open up the playoffs facing Humboldt.

All Bomber playoff games will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

For the second straight weekend Flin Flon is going to get the opportunity to host a Provincial hockey Tournament.

Pee-Wee Rural A teams will make their way up North this weekend.

There will be two pools With Flin Flon, Thompson and Morden in one pool with Brandon, Stonewall, Portage and Macdonald in the other.

Games will be played at the Whitney Forum and start Friday with Thompson playing Flin Flon at 2, followed by Brandon against Stonewall at 3:45, Portage against Macdonald at 5:30 and Flin Flon taking on Morden at 7:15.

Opening Ceremonies will take place before the Flin Flon, Morden game.

Round robin continues Saturday and the playoffs start Sunday at 9 with the Championship Final Sunday at 4:30.

The 86th annual Men's and Ladie's Curling Bonspiels will both take place this weekend at the Uptown Curling Club.

This will be the second year that both events will take place on the same weekend.

Deadline to register is today and you can stop by Kick It Sports or mail your entry to Box 492, Flin Flon MB,R8A-1N3 or e-mail andy.burbidge@mts.net.

Junior Curlers can enter for free and draws will begin Friday afternoon.

RD Parker out of Thompson swept both the Boys and Girls Senior Basketball Zones this past weekend on home turf.

The Queens battled hard going 3-1 in round robin before losing final to Thompson 54-42. Hapnot was able to get to within 1 point after 3, before Thompson pulled away.

The Kings went 2-2 in round robin before losing to the Pas in the semis.

Thompson took the final over the Pas in a thriller 80-77.

The Werbicki Trucking Bantam AA Bombers capped an unbelievable  season winning a Provincial Championship with an OT victory last night in La Broquerie.

The Bombers beat Pembina Valley 6-5 with Carson Ledoux scoring the OT winner.

Flin Flon went through the weekend undefeated at 4-0 out scoring their opposition 26- 13.

This is very impressive when you consider Flin Flon Didn't even have a Bantam program last year.

Congratulations to the coach's Greg Kritzer, Rylan Veitch, Brett Muench and Jace Anderson and the rest of the Werbicki Trucking Bantam AA  Bombers for bringing a Provincial Hockey Championship back to Northern Manitoba.

Flin Flon hosted Atom A Provincials at the Creighton Sportex this past weekend. All three seeds came from the north including Flin Flon, Thompson and The Pas.

Thompson rolled over the competition going 4-0 in the round robin and beat the Northland Ford A Bombers 6-0 in the final to finish first and collect the Provincial banner.

Flin Flon finished second going 2-2 in the round robin and picked up the Silver medal in the loss to Thompson in the final.

The Pas finshed 0-4.

Congratulations to the organizing committee and Flin Flon Minor Hockey including all the volunteers who donated their time on organizing a great Provincial tournament.

The Flin Flon Bombers have first place in the Sherwood Division in  their sights after two more convincing wins against the Laronge Ice Wolves this past weekend.

The Maroon and White express rolled into Laronge Friday  and took it to the Wolves 11-4. Jason Lavallee led the way with the hat-trick collecting his 26th,27th and 28th of the year.

Greyson Reitmeier had a good night scoring his 26th of the year and adding 3 assists with other goals coming from Sinclair, Hooper, Williams, Shumlanski, McCausland and Marchi who picked up his first ever SJHL goal.

Zac Robidoux stopped 21 out of 25 shots for his 18th win of the season.

It was a bit slower start for the Bombers in the rematch at the Whitney Forum Saturday, but when it was all said and done Flin Flon rolled to the 7-1 win.

Marchi scored his second of the year to open things up in the first period and the Bombers got their offense rolling in the second period on goals from St.Onge, Reitmeier and Lavallee to put the B'S up 4-1 after 2.

Insurance goals in the third period came from Lesko, Lavallee and Beebe which gave Flin Flon a lot more breathing room than what they needed picking up their 38th win.

Lavallee's two goals give him 30 on the season which makes him the first Bomber to hit 30  and just the 5th player in the league to do it.

Reitmeier has 27 and has one more game to hit 30 and is just 2 points behind Notre Dame's Ben Duperreault for the overall scoring lead.

Brenden Newton was back between the pipes and wasn't tested much stopping 21 out of 22 shots.

Nipawin swept the home and home with Melfort this weekend, so they remain two points up on the Bombers for first in the Sherwood Division with the much awaited showdown set to hit the Whitney Forum on Tuesday to close out the regular season.

Flin Flon needs to beat Nipawin in regulation to capture first place as they own the tie breaker winning 6 out of the 7 head to head meetings.

If the Bombers win in regulation they will get first in the Sherwood and second overall. All the Hawks need is a single point to capture first place and the second seed.

Flin Flon's record stands at 38-14-2-3 good for 81 points while Nipawin is 40-14-2-1, 83 points.

This past Saturday was the end to a long year for the Laronge Ice Wolves who finshed with a record of 6-47-1-4 that  included 29 straight losses to close out the season.

I have to hand it to Laronge,  they never hung their heads and battled right to the end and I wish Head Coach and GM Evan Vossen and the entire organization nothing but  the best with their re-build.

I am also hoping fror a very big crowd at the Forum Tuesday, and let's face it this is a playoff game. The Hawks came in and beat the Bombers on the last game of the season last year to steal third place and let's hope it doesn't happen again.

Flin Flon did end up making out pretty well but could make their road a lot easier this year with a win on Tuesday. So no matter what you got going, drop it and come out to the Whitney Forum  and let's do what Bomber fans do best MAKE LOTS OF NOISE!!!!

Hard to believe but the SJHL regular season is just about to come to an end with most clubs just having a couple more games before getting ready for the post season.

Flin Flon and Laronge will play a home and home this weekend with 2 must wins for the Bombers if they want to finish first in the Sherwood Division.

Laronge is playing for pride and next year as they play their final home game Friday. The Ice Wolves are marred in a terrible losing streak dropping their last 27 games.

They looked like they might snap the streak on Tuesday building an early 2-0 lead on the Mustangs, but couldn't hang on and ended up losing 4-2.

The Bombers have taken 15 out of a possible 16 points in the head to head matchups with Laronge, but the Ice Wolves battled the Maroon and White hard their last matchup at the Mel with Flin Flon coming out on  top 4-3 February the 11th.

These are the games that scare you to death as a coach because you know sooner or later they have to win a game as the law of averages will catch up with you. Mike Reagan is hoping Friday is not Laronge's night.

You can bet the Ice Wolves are going to come out fired up and they know how important this weekend series is to the Bombers. I expect Friday's game to be very close and Laronge wanting to wrap up their season with a win especially on home ice.

Flin Flon will have to stay disiplined and play their game and dictate the pace and not get caught up in any shenanigans after the whistle.

The Bombers remain two points behind Nipawin for first in the Sherwood and need both wins against Laronge on the weekend,  and will also have to beat the Hawks in regulation Tuesday if they are going to finish on top.

Congratulations to Bomber defenseman Eric Sinclair on being chosen SJHL Defenseman Of The Year for the second straight season. Sinclair won the award with Melfort last year and may be the only player to ever win this award for two different teams in back to back seasons. Talk about exclusive company.

Congratulations to Greyson Reitmeier as well on being chosen RBC Sherwood Division Player Of The Year. Reitmeier has had a tremendous season putting up 70 points in 55 games which has him second in SJHL scoring only behind Notre Dame's Ben Duperreault who has 77 points.

The Bombers will be counting on both these players to hopefully lead them to their first league title since 1993.

You can catch both Bomber matchups against Laronge this weekend on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com including tonight's game from the Mel Hegland Uniplex starting with the Murray GM Coach's Show at 6:45.

The Flin Flon Figure Skating Club will be hosting a year end ice show this weekend at the Whitney Forum.

The show is called Skate A Story and features great local skaters from the Pre- Canskate, Canskate, Junior Starskate and Senior Starskate programs.

There is also going to be a bake sale and penny parade and it all starts this Sunday at 2:30.

Admission is adults $5.00 and kids under 12-$3.00