Congratulations to graduating forward Cole Rafuse of the Flin Flon Bombers who has committed to the Acadia Axemen for the up coming season.

Rafuse had an exceptional season in a Bomber uniform as he finished second over all in league scoring with 88 points in 57 games including 39 goals.

He also added 11 points in 4 playoff games and was a big factor in Flin Flon sweeping Humboldt in the opening round.

Rafuse cherished his time in Flin Flon. " I just wanted to thank the fans, the coaching staff and every body for welcoming me in to the community with open arms and its been a great experience and I won't forget my time here."

Caleb Franklin has also committed to Vancouver Island University and will suit up for the Mariners this fall.

Franklin spent the better part of two seasons with the Bombers, suiting up for 99 regular season games and collecting 57 points.

He also added 7 points 13 playoff  games.

Franklin was a fan favorite who never took a shift off and his relentless work ethic will  certainly be  missed.

Due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, the 2020 Manitoba Summer Games Norman Region ID camp which was scheduled for may the 31st at the Phantom Lake field has been postponed.

The Phantom Lake Soccer Club will pass on any other information as it becomes available from the MSA for a future Norman Region ID camp and any other information about the 2020 Manitoba Summer Games.

The University of Saskatchewan will be presenting 7 major awards to their different athletes on a fantastic year in athletics for 2019-20.

In response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, Huskie athletics has cancelled the in person salute Gala and will be announcing the winners on social media  April the 1st.

The awards are handed out to the athletes who have had outstanding seasons in their sport, the class room and in the community, during their time at the U of S.

Both the Lee brothers have been nominated as they continue to excel in the sport of wrestling.

Carson Lee is up for the Howard Nixon Trophy, for Male Rookie Of The Year. Carson was the Canada West and U Sports  Rookie Of The Year and was a Conference and National Gold Medalist.

Hunter,  is nominated for the E. Kent Philips Trophy for Male Athlete Of The Year, after winning Gold medals for Canada West and U-Sports events.

The Flin Flon Bombers are still hoping to go ahead with a Spring Camp in Saskatoon, May the 22nd to the 24th.

There will be players coming in from all over Canada, right from Manitoba to BC, as well as a strong contingent from Quebec and the US..

Kids will range in ages from 15 to 19 with over 100 expected.

This is by invite only  and expected to be a high calibre camp. This is the biggest camp of the year for the Bombers with their only chance to have all their prospects on the ice at one time.

This may change due to the CORONA 19 out break, as we will continue to keep you up to date. 

The CORONA 19 outbreak is hitting every body  pretty hard including the hockey world, where every single league has been shut down to help prevent the spread of the disease.

It was last Thursday,  that Hockey Canada announced that they had cancelled the remainder of the 2019-20 season,  including the SJHL.

This hit the Flin Flon Bombers pretty hard as they had already advanced to the second round of the playoffs after sweeping the Humboldt Broncos in round number one.

Yes it is a tough pill to swallow, but safety has to be the number one objective.

The Bombers handed out their year end awards and emptied out their stalls at the Whitney Forum on Wednesday, and it was a very sombre group.

I can't say I blame them as this was a very special group that fully expected to be playing for a league Championship.

There isn't much you can do when this is out of your control.

Here,  at 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com didn't want to end the seasaon this way so we have at least one more Flin Flon Bomber broadcast this year.

We will be presenting a  "special Retro Broadcast" this Saturday from last year's SJHL Quarter Final between the Bombers and Battleford Stars from March the 22nd, 2019 at the North Battleford Civic Centre.

This was the triple ot thriller and one of the best games I have ever witnessed in the booth in over 20 years of broadcasting Bomber games.

We will run part of the third period, plus all the over time periods with fresh interviews from Bomber Captain, Mason Martin, Bomber Coach, Mike Reagan, Battleford Play By Play man, Marty Martinson and a salute to the graduating 20 year olds.

Join Raphael Saray and myself as we will kick things off Saturday with a special pre game intro from inside the CFAR studio at 7:05, then the retro game to follow.

One last chance to enjoy Flin Flon Bomber hockey on the radio this Saturday.

With the SJHL season coming to a crushing halt with the COVID- 19 out break, the Flin Flon Bombers did get one more chance to gather at the Whitney Forum today.

For the first time ever, the Bombers had to hand out their year end awards with no fans, sponsors, billets, board members and family members in attendance.

The health administration is advising no gatherings of more than 50 people, so the hardware was handed out at the dressing room.

Cole Rafuse was a big winner as he took home four awards including the George Leel Trophy for most points along with Alec Malo with 88.

He also won the CFAR Most Valuable Player, Pat Spiller Memorial Trophy as the top goal scorer and finished first in the RBC- 3 Star Awards.

Tristan Lemyre was second and Jacob Delorme, third.

Other winners included:

Diane Krokosz Memorial- Most Dedicated- Tristan Lemyre

Nick Oklobdziia Rookie Of The Year- Tristan Lemyre

Flin Flon Bombers Most Popular Player- Donavan Houle

Howard Fox, MR Hustle- Matt Flodell

Lavalley Artworks Academic Award- Jaeden Mercier

Patty Ginnell Memorial Most Improved- Jaeden Mercier and Cole Vardy

Creighton Furniture Defensive Player Of The Year- Mason Martin

Darcy Bancroft Best Defensman- Mason Martin

Chicken Chef, Unsung Hero- Caleb Franklin

Coach's Award- Caleb Franklin

With the SJHL season coming to a crashing halt due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, the Flin Flon Bombers dream of bringing a league title to Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan has ended with bitter dissapointment.

This will not take away from another successful season, due to a lot of hard work from very dedicated people.

Flin Flon Bomber President, Travis Rideout has released a statement on behalf of the Flin Flon Bomber organization.

Dear Bomber fans

As you are all well aware, our 2019-20 hockey season has been cancelled, this includes all post season events such as our annual awards night, with the recent developments regarding COVID-19.

This news is obviously a huge disappointment to the coaching staff, board members, players and volunteers, but realize that the safety of all involved is the most important.

We had high hopes when it came to the end of this season, and feel very saddened to all players that were unable to complete their goals going in, especially to the graduating players.

I would like to thank Zach Bannister, Alec Malo, Cole Rafuse, Caleb Franklin, Donavan Houle-Villeneuve, Mason Martin, Dane Hirst and Troy Quinn for all they gave to the community of Flin Flon and the Bombers and wish them all the best in the future. Once a Bomber, Always a Bomber.

We would like to thank everyone for a very exciting 2019-20 SJHL season and look forward to what lies ahead.

Be safe everyone, be healthy and see you around the rink in the future.

Sincerely,

Travis Rideout – President- FF Bombers

Congratulations to the Flin Flon Bombers Tristan Lemyre,  who has been selected to the SJHL All Rookie Team for this past season.

Lemyre led all rookies in points with 62 in 44 games including 30 goals which he picked up in the second last game of the season.

He also managed to pick up the Rookie Of The Year, despite missing 14 games with an injury and was awarded a NCAA scholorship to the University Of Denver.

Lemyre will be a key kog for the Bombers when the SJHL makes it's return in the fall.

The Uptown Curling Club hosted the last event of the curling season this past weekend,  and this could also be the last local sporting event we have seen for a while with the COVID- 19 virus.

22 rinks took part in the annual Men's and Ladie's bonspiels and we have all the results.

Men's Events

Main Event- FF Insurance

Levers over Holmes

Second Event- Hudbay

Melien beat Anderson

Third Event- FF Construction

Watt knocked off Connelly

Ladies Events

Main Event- Fehr beat Reierson

Second Event- Davidson over Chrisp

Third Event- Evans defeated Kostuchuk

Flin Flon Minor Hockey is planning their Awards Gala for Wednesday March the 25th,  6 pm at the Sportex.

Officials and hockey players from Novice to Midget will all be honored with various awards from the past season.

Don't forget to wear your jersey and return them to your coach at the end of the night.

Please plan to come out and celebrate another great season. 

Good luck to the JV Hapnot Kings who are in Carberry for basketball Provincials which are starting later today.

Hapnot will play their first game against Gilbert Plains/Grandview at 3:30 this afternoon.

The Kings finished second in their Zone but did travel to Swan River and won their Wild Card game against MacGregor to advance.

The Kings are ranked 5th and if they win their game today, they would take on the winner of MBCI from the Pas and Immanuel Christian.

102.9 CFAR will have updates through- out the weekend.

It was gut check time for the Flin Flon Bombers,  who pulled out a 2 to 1 emotional win in Humboldt last night and were able to sweep their first round playoff series against the Broncos.

Head Coach and GM, Mike Reagan has been preaching depth all year and that is exactly what he got from his group last night.

Flin Flon were missing three of their starting defensemen including Ryder Richmond, Troy Quinn and Cole Vardy who were all out due to injury.

The very versatile Caleb Franklin dropped back to play defense and the Bombers got a goaltending performance of the ages from Cal Schell who made 44 saves in his SJHL Playoff debut.

Mike Reagan wanted to get Schell into action and didn't want to take any chances with starting goalie Jacob Delorme in case things got out of hand last night.

The Broncos looked very dis- interested in playing hockey the last three games and seemed to be more concerned in executing cheap shots as opposed to winning games.

To their credit, Humboldt did play their best game of the series last night and quite honestly that is how i envisioned the series before it began.

As for Cal Schell,  you would never know it was his first playoff game as he was ready to go from the opening whistle,  and in my opinion played his best game as a Bomber.

He made some spectacular stops including a break away on Luke Spadafora in the third period.

Brendan Forman also played well for the Broncos and wound up with 31 saves on 33 shots.

Offense was tough to come by,  with Zach Bannister picking up his first of the post season when he took a beautiful pass from Donavan Houle back of the Humboldt net mid way through the second.

The Broncos responded on the power play when Karter McNarland tied the game late in the middle frame.

With the score tied at one, and the way both goalies were playing , I knew who ever scored the next goal, would probabley be enough to get the w.

Flin Flon would take advantage of a Bronco turn over mid way through the third,  when Easton Haygarth pounced on a give away in front of Humboldt's net and buried a nice wrist shot under Forman's right arm.

Cal Schell and a determined under manned defense did the rest and held off a late Bronco barage to win the game 2 to 1 and sweep the first round series 4 games to none.

I really like the closeness of this Bomber team and the fact they are getting contributions from every one,  whether it is blocking shots, throwing a big hit, winning a face off or concentrating on defense.

This team can score a lot but are focussed on doing a lot of the little things well.

With the sweep,  the Bombers will get a 8 day break and will open up the SJHL Semi- Final a week from this Friday no matter the opponent. 

If Melfort beats Estevan and the Stars eliminate Nipawin, Flin Flon will get the Mustangs in a re-match of the SJHL final from four years ago.

Of course a lot could happen and with this Corona Virus shutting down all the professional sports leagues, who knows what to expect.

Here's hoping,  that the league keeps going and we will get to enjoy a lot more SJHL playoff hockey with a Bomber team that seems very focussed on bringing a Championship to the Bomber faithful for the first time since 1993. 

The Creighton Kodiak Girls basketball team were down in Sandy Bay for the 3A  Conference Championships this past weekend.

Creighton went undefeated including a solid 101-74 victory over Sandy Bay in the final.The Kodiak boy's were in Tisdale and lost to Sandy Bay by a bucket on Friday.

Sandy Bay went on to win the boy's bracket.

Hapnot's Maguire Lee won a Bronze in wrestling  at Provincials in Saskatoon this past Saturday in the 82kg category.

Congratulations to the Flin Flon Pee Wee Girls Bombers who went undefeated in Treherne and came home with a Provincial Gold medal this past weekend.

The Bombers won both their round robin games against Treherne and Macdonald before beating Treherne again in the semi's 3 to 2.

This would put Flin Flon in the final against Elkhorn and the Bombers played one of their best games of the year winning 8 to 1.

The coach's are Chad Schwartz, Pat McKenzie and Mark Playford.

The Werbicki Trucking Bantam AA Bombers came within a few goals of winning a Provincial banner in Minnedosa.

They won their two round robin games against Brandon and Minnedosa in the round robin before beating thompson in the semi's 10 to 1.

Flin Flon would get to the final and lost to a very good Killarney team 5 to 2 to finish second in the province.

Jake Kuzmiak and Embey Roberts scored the goals.

The Atom A Ped's Threads Bombers were also out at Provincials in Rat River and ended up going 1-2 in the round robin with their one win coming against Lakeside.

They did not make the playoff round.

The Flin Flon Bombers used their specialty teams to their advantage and played two solid games at the Whitney Forum this weekend,  enroute  to a two to nothing series lead against the Humboldt Bronco's.

Friday night, Flin Flon scored twice on the power play and added a short handed goal from Billy Klymchuk to take game one, 5 to 2.

Donavan Houle scored twice,  with the other goals coming from Mason Martin and Easton Haygarth.

Tristan Schewchuk scored both of the Humboldt goals.

Cole Rafuse had the hot hand on Saturday, firing four past Brendan Forman for his first four goals of the series and he added one assist and was named the game's first star for his 5 point performance.

The former Memorial Cup winner has 7 points in the first two games.

Easton Haygarth picked up his second in as many nights and the SJHL Rookie Of The Year, Tristan Lemyre scored his first of the post season.

Reid Arnold, Logan Foster and Josh Paulhus repiled for the Bronco's.

Flin Flon had the number one power play for much of the regular season and it was a factor in the first two games of the playoffs.

The Bombers are a combined 5 for 12 in the two games and also have a short handed goal.

Jacob Delorme has been good when called upon and was particularly good on Friday stopping 33 out of 35 shots. He stopped 27 out of 30 on Saturday.

I do admire how the Bronco's approached the first two games in Flin Flon by coming at the more experienced team by getting in the faces of everyone including Cole Rafuse, Donavan Houle and Jacob Delorme,

it was one of the first times I have ever noticed Houle and Delorme lose their composure.

Unfortunately for the Bronco's,  it led them to a steady stream of penalties and the Bombers eventually made them pay.

Humboldt came in with the attitude of old time hockey, but the referees have made it clear that they will not let them play that way and they may have to change their game plan for Tuesday.

The Bronco's do look a little frustrated,  and will need one of their best efforts of the season to avoid going down 3 to 0.

Flin Flon has lots of momentum and really responded to two great crowds at the Whitney Forum. There is something about playoff time  at the Whitney Forum and it was great to have Krazz back beating his drum and revving up the crowd.

The series will shift back to Humboldt and the Elgar Petersen Arena for games three and

four this Tuesday and Wednesday.

You can catch both games on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com beginning with the Pharmasve SJHL Coach's Show at 8:10, MB time.

The wait is over and the Flin Flon Bombers finally know who they will be facing in the opening round of the SJHL playoffs starting tonight at the Whitney Forum.

The Bombers have had second overall wrapped up for the last few weeks, but seeds 3 through 8 took til the final game of the regular season to work it self out.

The Humboldt Bronco's will get 7th,  after six straight wins to end the season including a 3 to 1 win over Melville on Tuesday to close out the SJHL regular season.

It looked like the Bronco's wanted the 8th seed and a date with the defending SJHL champion Battleford Stars. Head Coach, Scott Barney rested a lot of his regulars and even pulled the goalie with his team ahead in the third period to try and give Melville the advantage, but the Mills couldn't find the empty net.

Saying that, I like Humboldt's club and I think they are going to give Flin Flon every thing that they can handle in this best of 7.

They are the third highest scoring team in the league with 219 goals, 46 less then the league leading Bombers. They also have a good PP, and were only second to Flin Flon at 23.1 %.

The Bombers ended up at 27.9 %.

What makes this match up even more interesting is they haven't played each other since December the 12th and Flin Flon did win the season series 4 games to 2 . The Bronco's have added the likes of forward Luke Spadafora and d-man Doug Scott and look a lot different since the last time they played the Bombers.

Humboldt does come in the hotter of the two teams with 6 straight wins, while the Bombers dropped their last 3 games and are 3-5-2 in their last 10.

Flin Flon will get the luxury of starting the series at home and Head Coach and GM, Mike Reagan is excited about starting the playoffs. "  We have been sitting in limbo for the last three weeks, wrapping up second place so early. We have had the flu bug go through us with a few injuries. We know we haven't played our best hockey down the stretch but it is tough with trying to get healthy to patting stats that really don't mean anyything. The guys are excited with a couple good day's of practise and we know Humboldt is a good, fast, young energetic team that will give us all we can handle."

This is the first playoff meeting for the two teams since 2013, when the Bronco's swept the Bombers four straight on their way to the league final.

They have met in the post season, 8 times with Humboldt winning the series on 6 occasions. The Bronco's have an time playoff record against the Bombers at 24-10.

The First two games will be played at the Whitney Forum, tonight and tomorrow, with game's three and four at the Elgar Peterson Arena next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Remember with the time change this weekend the games in Humboldt will start at 8:30.

102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com will broadcast every single Bomber playoff game starting tonight with the Pharmasave Coach's Show at 7:10.

The Playoff dates have been announced for the Flin Flon Bombers, Humboldt Broncos SJHL Quarter Final Playoff series starting Friday at the Whitney Forum. 

Here is the complete schedule:

Friday March 6th- Humboldt at Flin Flon 7:30

Saturday March 7th- Humboldt at Flin Flon 7:30

Tuesday March 10th- Flin Flon at Humboldt- 8:30

Wednesday March 11th- Flin Flon at Humboldt-8:30

If Necessary

Friday March 13th- Humboldt at Flin Flon-7:30

Sunday March 15th- Flin Flon at Humboldt- 8:00

Tuesday March 17th- Humboldt at Flin Flon- 7:30

These are all MB times.

The Ped's Threads Atom A Bombers will also be going down to Provincials this weekend in Rat River.

Flin Flon will open up the tournament on Friday against Ile Des Chenes at 12:30, then play Saturday against Lakeside at 9:30.

Playoffs start Sunday at 9 with the Gold medal game at 4:45

The Werbicki Trucking Bantam AA Bombers are off to Provincials in Minnedosa starting on Saturday.

The Bombers will play two round robin games against  Brandon at 1:30 and Minnedosa at 6.

Playoffs start sunday at 9 with the Championship game at 5.

Congratulations to Flin Flon's Maguire Lee who picked up a Gold medal at the SHSAA Wrestling Regionals in Prince Albert this past weekend.

Maguire Lee won Gold in the 82kg event.

Kyle Gurniak placed 4th in the 77 kg event.

Both will represent Hapnot in Provincials coming up in Saskatoon starting this Friday.

The Flin Flon Bombers will travel to Melfort tonight to play game 58 and wrap up the SJHL regular season. This is a make up game from January the 8th which was postponed due to bus problems.

Flin Flon, who have had second place wrapped up for a while, dropped a pair of games to the Laronge Ice Wolves on the weekend by scores of 4 to 3 and 4 to 3 in OT at the Whitney Forum on Saturday.

The Bombers did rest a lot of their veterans in the two games to get a little extra rest for the playoffs which will start on Friday.

You can't take anything away from Laronge who did play well both nights and are fighting for home ice advantage for their first round series.

Right now the Wolves hold down fourth overall with 72 points, but if Melfort beats Flin Flon tonight that would push Laronge down to 5th.

The Mustangs would grab third spot, with the Yorkton Terriers claiming fourth and Laronge would then take 5th.

It will be intersting to see what type of a lineup the Bombers decide to go with as it is a nothing game for them once again.

Saying that, you still want to go into the playoffs on a roll and Flin Flon is 4-4-2 in their last 10 and have been battling a nasty flu bug for the last few weeks.

Mike did indicate to me last week that he wanted to call up some ap's to get a look at the future and once again rest a number of his veteran players.

I am not sure if that has changed after this past weekend's results or not.

Win or lose,  the Bombers won't know their opponent until tomorrow when Humboldt travels to Melville.

If the Bronco's win,  then they will travel to Flin Flon Friday, and if the Mills pull the upset it will be Nipawin at the Whitney Forum on Friday night.

This has been one crazy year and in all my years covering this league, I don't remember it ever being this tight and not knowing any playoff match ups til literally the last game of the season.

Don't forget to catch tonight's game from Melfort  with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:10 and drop of the puck at 7:30.

We will also broadcast every single Bomber playoff game starting Friday at the Whitney Forum.

Congratulations to the Senior Hapnot Queens basketball team who went undefeated in Norway House on the weekend and captured the Zone title.

Hapnot breezed through the round robin beating OCN, and Oxford House.

That would put the Queens in the final beating Norway House 41 to 28 to finish first and claim the Zone title.

Hapnot will head down to Winnipeg for Provincials March the 19th.

The Hapnot Senior Kings were in the Pas for their Zone and they had a good weekend winning both their round robin games against Norway House and Oxford House.

They would play the number two ranked team in the Province, MBCI from the Pas and dropped a close game in the final 86 to 63 to finish second and cap a good season.