The Flin Flon Bombers skated to a 4-3 OT win last night to beat the Melfort Mustangs and wrap up the SJHL regular season.

Brock Hounsell pinched in from the blue line to put a puck through Jesse Wilkins' legs at 3:10 of OT to lift the Bombers to their 34th victory of the season. It was Hounsell's 4th with other Bomber goals coming from Boehm(25), Wark(6) and Penner(15).

Flin Flon rested plenty of regulars to give some of their prospects a chance to play in a game that had no bearing on the standings.

Local products Boyd Langan and Brendan Barron who both played for the Norman Northstars suited up last night along with Carson Boehm who plays for Beardy's and is Brett Boehm's younger brother.

The Bombers finish the season at 34-19-1 69 points and third in the Northern Division.

Melfort finishes at 19-29-4-2 44 points and 5th in the North and prepare for the survivor series starting in Battleford this Friday.

Brett Boehm winds up the team leader in goals with 25 ( 5 shy of his goal of 30)  but still an impecable rookie season. Riley Storzuk wins the George Leel Trophy for leading the team in points with 57. Not bad for a guy who missed 10 games this season.

The Bombers prepare for the Nipawin Hawks in the North Division Semi-Final which will start in Nipawin next Friday.

Here is the series break down of games

Friday March 8th Nipawin
Saturday March 9th Nipawin

Monday March 11th Flin Flon
Tuesday March 12th Flin Flon

(If Nec) Thurs March 14th Nipawin
(If Nec) Sat March 16th Flin Flon
(If Nec) Tues March 19th Nipawin

The season series was 3-3 with both teams winning 2 out of 3 in each others building. This should be the best series of the opening round.

A great crowd of 889 watched the game last night with over 3 grand leaving the Whitney in Travis Fehr's pocket, who ended up being the lucky 50-50 winner.

Thanks for your great support and we will see you in the playoffs.

Rob Hart

The Flin Flon Bombers only laced up the skates once at the Whitney Forum this past weekend, but it was a big one as they took down the Laronge Ice Wolves by the tune of 6-1. With the win Flin Flon eliminates Laronge from the playoffs for a change.

Dillan McCombie led the way with 2 goals his 2oth and 21st of the season. Brett Penner also had 2 his 13th and 14th with singles from Hounsell(3) and Heibert(9). Laronge's lone goal came from Rollins his 4th.

Flin Flon improves their home record to 21-5 and are 33-19-1 on the season. The Bombers are 17-12 against teams in their own division.The Bombers will close out the regular season tomorrow against Melfort in a nothing game for both teams. The Bombers will finish third and the Stangs have clinched the final playoff spot with their win over Yorkton Friday and the Ice Wolves loss to the Bombers. Flin Flon will face Nipawin in the North Semi-Final starting March the 8th and 9th in Nipawin.

The Bombers held their awards banquet Saturday at the FF Community Hall and here are the award winners:

Diane Krokosz Memorial for Most Dedicated Player- Brandon Wildung

FF Bomber Most Popular Player- Brody Robinson

Howard Fox MR Hustle- Cole McCaig

Bobby Clark Award- Outstanding Local Player- Dillan McCombie

Lavalley Artworks Academic Award- Dillan McCombie

Creighton Furniture Defensive Player Of The Year- Brock Hounsell

Royal Bank 3 Star Awards

1st- Riley Storzuk,  2nd- Josh Roach,  3rd- Devin Buffalo

Patty Ginnell Most Improved- Danys Chartrand/ Tysen Empey

Nick Oklobdzija Rookie Of The Year- Brett Boehm

Darcy Bancroft Best Defenseman- Josh Roach

Northern Bus Lines MVP- Josh Roach/ Dylan Balaski

Chicken Chef Unsung Hero- Brody Robinson

Pat Spiller Leading Scorer, George Leel- Most Points and Burkees Sports Lounge MVP Of The Playoffs are still to be determined.

Congratulations to the Bombers Josh Roach for picking up the SJHL Best Defenseman and Brett Boehm for being selected the SJHL Rookie Of The Year.

              

The Flin Flon Bombers have 3 games remaining in the regular season, including a home and home with Laronge which starts tonight at the Mel Hegland Uniplex.

The season series sits at 2-2 with both teams winning both their home games.

The Bombers took it to Laronge at home with wins of 9-3 and 4-1, but in LA it has been a different story. The Ice Wolves have taken both their home games 4-1 and a 1-0 win to kick off 2013 Jan 4th. That was the game where former Western Hockey Leaguer Andy Blanke made his Bomber debut.

Flin Flon heavily outshot Laronge that game but could not get a puck past Myles Hovdebo who always seems to get up for Flin Flon.

Even though there are 23 points separating these 2 teams, these are 2 huge hockey games especially for Laronge who are fighting for their playoff lives.

Laronge and Melfort both have 41 points and have 2 games remaining in the season. Laronge closes out against the Bombers and the 'Stangs play Yorkton at home Friday and wrap up the season Tuesday in Flin Flon.

The Mustangs were in control of their own destiny and lost all their games in hand. Melfort won the season series between the two teams and if they are tied at the end of the season , the team with more wins will get the final playoff spot. Right now Laronge has 19 wins and Melfort has 18.

The Bombers still have an outside chance at second but need to win their last 3 and hope Nipawin doesn't pick up a point in their last 2 games in Battleford and Kindersley.

One thing is for sure the Bomber- Hawk series will be a jim dandy.

I would like to congatulate Bomber netminder Devin Buffalo on being chosen the SJHL Goaltender of the week. Buffalo was steller in backstopping Flin Flon to much needed home wins over Yorkton and Melfort this past weekend stopping 67 out of the 70 shots he faced. Buffalo continues to put up great numbers with a solid 2.47 GAA and a very good SPCT at .926.

The Bombers will need to slow down Jared Iron and Graham Smerek if they want to have success in these 2 games. Both theses guys have scored big goals and have given the Bombers trouble every time they step on the ice.

Flin Flon's top point producers against Laronge are Boehm who has picked up 6 points, McCaig, and Roach who both have 4.

No matter what goes down you will have the best seat in the house as we will have both games on CFAR 590 and flinflononline.com. We are on the air both nights at 7:15.

Ticket sales for the Bomber banquet this Saturday are going well and you can get yours by calling the Bomber office at: 687-4404.

I will have an interview with special guest speaker Derek Blais in tonight's second intermission.

Thanks for reading and keep your stick on the ice

Rob Hart

  

If the Flin Flon Bombers have any aspiration of finishing second in the North; they need 4 points this weekend against the Terriers and Mustangs.

It won't be easy as Yorkton is fighting for first place overall with Humboldt and Melfort is in a desperate fight with Laronge to see who makes the playoffs.

The Bombers are 4 points behind Nipawin for second and both teams have 5 games left. Flin Flon will play 4 of their last 5 at home with all but 1 game against teams under .500.
A home in home with Laronge, 2 home games against Melfort and tonight's game against Yorkton.

The Bombers are 1-2 against the Terriers this season with their only win coming at the Whitney Forum back on Nov 13th. The Terriers are unbelievable at home,but like everybody else find it tougher to win on the road at 11-11-1-1. Yorkton is also 8-2 in their last 10. The Terriers score by committee and have been one of the best teams since the beginning of the season. They have great goaltending and play a very defensive minded game and never lose at home. They are my pick to win the south.

The Mustangs come to town tomorrow needing another win over the Bombers to help them grab the 5th and final playoff position. Melfort squandered an opportunity on Wednesday when they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Ice Wolves in OT.
Both these teams have 41 points but the Stangs are in the driver's seat with 3 games in hand and can determine their own destiny.

Laronge only has 2 more games and ironically both are against Flin Flon who will have a say who finishes 5th with 2 more games against Melfort as well.

The Bombers will try to shake off last Saturday's 7-4 setback to Melfort and try to finish the season strong. Flin Flon would obviously like to finish second but have not locked up third yet either. Battleford is 5 points behind with 4 games to go, so it would be a long shot.

Mike Reagan mentioned a while ago that they just need to be on a groove hitting the post season and they will finish where they finish.

A big showing this weekend will go a long way in doing that. No broadcast tonight but we are back on the air tomorrow with the usual Murray GM Coach's Show at 7:15 and play by play at 7:30.

Tickets are also available for the awards banquet on Satuday Feb 23rd at the FF Community Hall. Guest speaker is former Bomber Captain Derek Blais who now works for Hockey Canada. Call the Bomber office for all the details at 687-4404.

See you this weekend

Rob Hart

After dropping a 3-0 decision to Humboldt Friday, the Bombers rebounded for a nice 4-2 win Saturday at the Civic Centre in Battleford.

It was Flin Flon's first win in Battleford this season and it helped the Bombers hang onto second place in the Northern Division.

The Bombers were led by rookie sensation Brett Boehm who scored his 21st and 22nd of the season. Other goals came from Jason Wark his 4th of the season and former Western hockey leaguer Andy Blanke scored his first in a Bomber uniform, which was the game winner. This was a nice bounce back game for Devin Buffalo who stopped 30 of 32 shots he faced. He was particularily sharp late in the third, when the Stars were pressing.

Flin Flon's record stands at 29-18- 58 points, 2 more than Nipawin who have 3 games in hand. The Hawks make up one of those games in hand tonight as they head to Humboldt to face the Broncos. Nipawin ended Humboldt's 15 game unbeaten streak last Tuesday. The Bombers are 12-13 on the road and 14-10 against teams in their division.

The Bombers have a very favorable schedule down the stretch. 5 of their last 7 games are at home.

Here is the breakdown.

Home
Battleford- Friday Feb 8th
Yorkton- Friday Feb 15th
Melfort- Saturday Feb 16th
Laronge- Friday Feb 22nd
Melfort- Tuesday Feb 26th

Road
Melfort- Saturday Feb 9th
Laronge- Thursday feb 21st

Nipawin has 10 games remaining with only 3 at the cage and 7 on the road. Nipawin also has a lot of their games against the Sherwood Division, with 5 of their remaining games against the South.

You still can't write off Battleford either, they remain 7 points back of Flin Flon and 5 behind Nipawin. Battleford does have 1 game in hand on the Bombers and their final matchup of the season this Friday is a must win for the Stars.

It is going to be a very interesting finnish and you gotta love going to the rink at this time of the year

I can hardly wait to get back to the Whitney this Friday. It seems like for ever since the Bombers played a home game. Well 19 days any way.

See you Friday

Rob Hart

The Flin Flon Bombers will finally play a home game tonight when they host the Battleford Stars. This will be the 6th and final meeting after the Bombers beat the Stars 4-2 at the Civic Centre last Saturday.

It has been 19 days since the Bombers suited up at the Whitney, and they are in a huge battle with Nipawin and Battleford for second place.

The Hawks beat Estevan 1-0 last night and are tied with the Bombers for second with 58 points. Nipawin has one game in hand.

This is a huge game for Battleford who are 5 points behind Flin Flon and Nipawin. If the Stars can knock off the Bombers tonight they can get it down to 3 points or it could be 7 if the Bombers win.

I like the Bomber schedule down the stretch with 5 of their last 7 games at home. Mike Reagan said they arn't necessarily concerned with the standings but more important to be on a roll heading into the post season.

5 of their last 7 games are against teams under .500. Flin Flon still has to play Melfort 3 times and Laronge twice. It looks like a mismatch on paper, but both these teams are fighting for their playoff lives and will not be easy to play.

Flin Flon continues to be led offensively by Josh Roach who has 52 points and is the reigning SJHL Defenseman of the month. Roach is only 6 points out of the overall scoring lead. Brett Boehm leads the team in goals with 22 and all rookie scorers with 45 points.

Devin Buffalo bounced back with a nice effort against the Stars last Saturday and got a much needed confidence boost - he and rookie Brandon Wildung continue to put up good numbers this season.

Flin Flon leads the season series with Battleford 3-2 and have won both at the Whitney this season by scores of 5-4 and 3-1.

The Bombers will be in Melfort tomorrow with all the action on CFAR 590 and flinflononline.com with the Murray GM Coach's show at 7:15 and play by play at 7:30.

The Bombers have beaten Melfort in all 3 matchups this season and they have not played each other since November the 7th. Melfort holds on to the final playoff spot in the North with 38 points, 1 more than Laronge. The Mustangs have 3 games in hand.

Hope to see you this weekend with the push to the playoffs upon us.

This is definitely the most excxiting time of the year.

Get out and experience it.

Rob Hart