The long wait is over and it's time to get down to business as the SJHL regular season will begin tonight with 5 games including the Flin Flon Bombers off to the Cage to face the Nipawin Hawks.

Both teams are coming off good seasons with the Bombers finishing the year at 37-15-2-2 which was the best record in the Sherwood Division. Flin Flon would carry the success into the post season making it to the league final for the fourth time in 6 years.

Nipawin also made the playoffs under new bench boss Tad Kozun finishing the year at 26-24-5-1 and lost out to the Humboldt Broncos in the first round of the playoffs.

Kozun mentioned after the season that they are happy to get some playoff experience and feel poised to be one of the top 6 clubs in the league this year.

They certainly have a very good forward group returning with Braxton Buchberger, Joel Mabin, Maguire Ratzlaff and Finley Radloff all back in a Hawks uniform. Scoring goals should not be a problem

They did lose starting goalie Jackson Fellner who won 18 games last year and decided to go to school. They feel confident with Damon Cunningham who started all 5 playoff games and will be  the starter coming into tonight.

Flin Flon has a good forward group also led by returnee's Jacob Vockler,Alexi Sylvestre and Kylynn Olafson. The addition of home town product Justin Lies from the WHL will be fun to watch as well.

The Bombers will bring back both goalies including former Hawk, Harmon Laser Hume who was one of the top netminders in the league last year. Harmon was amongst the league leaders in wins with 28, save %at .913 and GAA at 2.57.

To say the Bombers haven't had their way with Nipawin the last few seasons would be a huge under statement. After losing the season opener in Nipawin last year, Flin Flon reeled off 5 straight wins. 

The Bombers are 8-2 against the Hawks in their last 10 meetings and are 16-4 in the head to head matchups in the last 5 years.

Don't forget to listen in for all the action tonight as we hit the air with our first installment of Creighton Furniture Flin Flon Bomber Hockey from the Cage with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:40 and puck drop at 8.

Flin Flon will return for the home opener on Saturday when the Melfort Mustangs make their way to town. We are on the air at 7:10, with drop of the puck at 7:30.

Northland Ford will be hosting a tailgate party before the game so make your way down to the Whitney Forum parking lot for face painting, a beer garden, prizes, free hot dogs and drinks and there will also be a skate with the team after the game.

See you at the rink this weekend.

The PBCN Selects will kick off their Pre Season Saskatchewan Tour tonight.

The Selects will play the Saskatoon Royals in Warman tonight  before heading to Carrot River tomorrow.

They will face the Whitefish Flyers  on Saturday before wrapping up in Onion Lake on Sunday. 

The Selects projected lineup for tonight  is posted on their facebook page.

PBCN will officially kick off their second season in the KJHL on September the 30th when they host the NCN Flames in their home opener.

U-11 Rep Team Try-outs will start this Sunday with a registration skate at 5.

Try-outs continue Monday Sept 25th at 6:45, Tuesday Sept 26th at 5:30 and Thursday Sept 28th at 5:30.

Coach is Jon Cooper and you can send an e-mail to technicaldirectorffmh@gmail.com if you have any questions.

U-13 Try-outs will also start this Sunday with a registration skate at 6:30.

The try-out schedule is Tuesday and Wednesday September the 26th and 27th at 6:45 and Thursday September the 27th at 7pm.

The Coach is Ryan Biberdorf and you can e-mail u13ffmh@gmail.com.

All the try-outs will take place at the Whitney Forum.

U-15 Rep team try-outs will be starting  later this week. Once again the team will be made up of players from both Flin Flon and the Pas.

The try-out schedule will be Thursday Sept 21st 8pm- Roy H Johnston Arena in the Pas.  Sunday Sept 24th 2:45 Roy H Johnston Arena  The Pas.

Monday Sept 25th and Tuesday Sept 26th 8:15 at the Whitney Forum.

If you are looking to try-out, you are expected at the rink for all 4 tryout sessions.

The coach is Greg Kritzer.

Both the Hapnot Kings and Queens travelled to Swan River this weekend for the first soccer tournament of the year.

The Queens went 2-1 with wins over Dauphin in penalty kicks and 3 to 0 over Thompson. Their only loss came against Swan River 1 to 0.

The Kings went 3-0 beating Dauphin in penalty kicks, 1 to 0 over Swan River and a 1-0 win against Thompson.

This was a good tune up for the defending Zone Champions who will host this year's Zones on September the 28th and 29th.

Provincials will happen in Dauphin on October the 13th and 14th.

It was a successful home opener for the Creighton Kodiaks who hosted the Rosthern Longhorns yesterday at the Creighton field.

This was Creighton's first official game in Conference 4 of the Saskatchewan 6 Man Football League.

Creighton was able to score a touchdown on their second set of downs and cruised to a 40 to 12 win in front of a crowd of well over 300 people.

Payton Pelltier had a great afternoon scoring four touchdowns including one run of 90 yards. Quintan Lycan scored the other touchdown on an interception return.

Both thse players are in grade 10 and look to have impressive futures with this program.

The Kodiaks also played good defensively and Rosthern was held in check and had trouble moving the ball.

Head Coach Ryan Karakochuk had this to say after yesterday's win. " When you prepare very well sometimes you get the results and I feel that's what happened. In our exhibition game against Shellbrook I felt we were unprepared and the score indicated it. I truly believe the guys bought in to what we were telling them and they studied. We put the work in on the field and the results came. It feels very good and it is the first win we have ever had against a south team. Saying that we have to get back to work and prepare for next week."

Creighton will hit the road and travel to Hague for their next game next Thursday, then get a bye the following week.

Next game at the Creighton Field will be on Thursday October the 5th vs Wakaw.

The Flin Flon Bombers dressed mostly vets and it showed as they doubled up on the Laronge Ice Wolves 4 to 2 last night at the Whitney Forum.

New comer Bailry Ewonus who has looked good since coming over from the AJHL, opened up the scoring just 4:36 into the opening period.

Veteran blue liner  Rylan Silzer would tie the game on the power play for the Wolves when he snuck a shot in from the blue line in front of a crowded Bomber net.

Jacob Vockler continues to have a great pre season and put the Bombers ahead late in the first with his third of the pre-season.

Alexi Sylvestre would then re-direct a puck past Logan Abric late in the second which would stand up as the game winner on the powerplay.

Vockler would get his second of the night for a little insurance late in the third and ends the pre season with 4 goals.The other Laronge goal came from new comer Payton Hu.

It was another powerplay goal and the Wolves would finish up 2 for 4. Flin Flon went 1 for 4.

Harmon Laser Hume went the distance in net for the Bombers and stopped 28 out of 30. Laronge went with two goalies including returning goalie from last year, Logan Abric and Karl Soneff who combined for 36 saves on 40 shots.

Flin Flon will finish the pre-season at 4-1 and will now prepare for the regular season which will open up next weekend. The Bombers kick off the season in Nipawin on Friday and host the Melfort Mustangs in their home opener on Saturday.

Laronge still has to play three pre season games including a home and home with Nipawin this weekend.

The Bombers will host their golf tournament today.

courtesy of bombers.ca

The Flin Flon Bombers are happy to announce the acquisition of ’04 Forward, Anthony Piccininno, via trade for a Player Development Fee from the North York Rangers of the OJHL.

The Toronto, Ontario product was selected 16^th overall in the 2021 OHL U-18 Priority Selection Draft by the Erie Otters. The past two seasons, Piccininno was an assistant captain and played for the North York Rangers of the OJHL. During his time there he put up impressive numbers, tallying 16 goals, 35 assists for 51 points in 94 regular season games. The 19 year old, Piccininno, is a hard working, 200 foot player with amazing speed and skating ability that will help bring a lot of offense and scoring to the Bombers front end this season.

“Anthony is a quick, skilled and intelligent player that will provide us with offence. He already has 2 years of junior experience and will be a nice addition to our top 6 forward group.” – Mike Reagan, Head Coach/GM

The Bombers welcome Anthony to Flin Flon and are very excited to have him apart of the organization!

The Creighton Kodiaks will kick off their much awaited season today as they will host the Rosthern Longhorns at the Creighton field in their home opener at 4pm.

Creighton has moved into Conference 4 and will face their stiffest competition since their program began over 10 years ago.

I had a chance to catch up with Head Coach Ryan Karakochuk and we talked about how his team is not only preparing for Rosthern today but their transistion into Conference 4.

We also discussed what veteran  players to watch for this year and some of the rookies that could make an impact.

You can hear the season kick off show here:   https://flinflononline.com/podcasts/nor-man-sportsline

The defending Northern  Zone champions for both boys and girls  soccer begin their seasons this weekend.

The Kings and Queens are off to Swan River and all the games will be played on Saturday.

Teams will also be competing from Swan River, Thompson and Dauphin.

The Queens will play Dauphin at 10:30, Swan Valley at noon, and Thompson at 3. 

The Kings will play Dauphin at 10:30, Swan River at 1:30 and Thompson at 3.

We will have full results on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

Another impressive display from the Flin Flon Bombers who went into Melfort last night and doubled up on the Mustangs 6 to 3.

Home town product Justin Lies led the way with his first SJHL hat-trick including a pair of power play goals to lead the Bombers to their third pre season win.

Kylynn Olafson, David Ander and Jacob Vockler also found the back of the net as the Bombers out shot Melfort 32 to 23.

New comers David Coule with a pair and Nolan Kelly had the Mustang goals.

Flin Flon went with both their veteran goalies with Harmon Laser Hume stopping all 11 shots fired in his direction and Kenny Marquart stopped 9 of 12.

The Mustangs also used two goalies with Josh Henson stopping 13 of 15 and Tysen Smith stopped 13 of 17 total.

Flin Flon improves to 3-1 in the pre season while Melfort will fall to 0-2.

The Bombers will wrap up the pre season when they host the Laronge Ice Wolves tomorrow night at the Whitney Forum. The game should feature full vets on both sides.

Game time is 7:30 and will be broadcast on Flo Hockey.

The Phantom Lake Golf Club will be hosting their AGM on Wednesday September the 27th at the Clubhouse starting at 7.

The agenda will include a report from the Pro, President, Greens Superintendant and Treasurer. They are hoping to get out as many members as possible to fill some vacancies on the board.

If you have any questions in the mean time you can call 306-688-5555. 

The final big golf event at the Phantom Lake Golf club wrapped up yesterday after noon with over 60 golfers taking part in the Club Championship and Closing Day Tournament.

When it was all said and done, Ray Shirran fired a sizzling 68 to win the event by 5 strokes over Chris Bortis and Neil Goodman.

Brooke Hagberg won the First Event with a 86.

Here are the rest of the results:

Men's Senior 50 to 64- Mark Koop- 79

Men's Senior 65 and over- Brett Davie- 78

Second Flight- Terry Anderson- 86

Ladies Club Championship- Lori Salahub- 81

Ladies Senior 50 to 64- Sue Murray- 96

Senior Ladies 65 plus- Judy Maitland- 94

Junior Club Champion- Jack Dubinak- -96

A big thanks to Sarah and her staff for a great meal, Brett and the grounds crew for their hard work on the course and to all the golfers that came out to support the event.

courtesy of pbcn selects

The PBCN Selects have traded 2002 Forward Dwayne McKenzie to the OCN Storm.

The Select receive the playing Rights of 2003 Forward Keilan Holland. Holland played 48 regular season games in the MJHL with both the Winnipeg Blues and OCN Blizzard. Last season Holland won the Central Canadian championship with ?the Storm.

The Selects also acquired the Junior B Rights to 2004 Forward Harlene Jacobson. Jacobson, a Cranberry Portage native who played minor hockey in Flin Flon scored 62 points last season for the Storm while helping them finish first during the regular season and ultimately winning the Central Canadian Championship.

Jacobson is currently playing with The Blizzard in the MJHL which is the Selects Jr A affiliate.

“We feel extremely satisfied with this deal, we thank Dwayne for his contributions to our program as he was the franchise’s first ever player signed. As we prepare for the season, our goals and his goals no longer similar, we look forward to the opportunity of adding two talented hard working individuals to our lineup.” -Gatlin Church

With redemption on their minds, the Flin Flon Bombers looked like a totally different team last night rolling over the OCN Blizzard 7 to 1.

The Maroon and White dressed a lot more veterans last night and it showed as they dominated last night's game from start to finish.

It took all of 32 seconds for Alexi Sylvestre to find the back of the net and Flin Flon poured it on for the rest of the night firing 48 shots at the Blizzard tandem of Loic Morin and Jack Osmond.

I thought both goalies played pretty good and the score could of been worse if these guys didn't hold the fort.

Noah Houle led the way with a pair of goals with singles coming from Jacob Vockler, Trevor Stenglein, David Ander and local product Ryder Mucha.

Marlin Edwards had the lobe goal for the Blizzard.

Ryan Bain started the game for Flin Flon and was perfect stopping all 10 shots in his direction. He gave way to Harmon Laser Hume who came in at the mid way point of the game and gave up one goal on 7 shots.

The Bombers will even their pre season record at 1-1 and avenge their 4 to 3 loss against the Blizzard in The Pas on Tuesday.

No rest for the Maroon and White Express who make their way to Laronge for a pre season encounter with the Wolves tonight at 8:30 MB time.

They will close out the pre season with two games next week, hitting Melfort on Tuesday and hosting Laronge at the Whitney Forum on Thursday.

The Regular season starts the weekend of September the 22nd when the Bombers travel to Nipawin. Flin Flon will host the Melfort Mustangs in their home opener on Saturday September the 23rd.

Both games will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

The Flin Flon Bombers are proud to announce the signing of Flin Flon local, ’03 Forward, Justin Lies, from the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL.

Being born and raised in Flin Flon, Lies played peewee and minor hockey for his hometown. In 2015, Lies, made the Norman Wolves U15 AAA out of Thompson, Manitoba, where he played for 2 seasons, tallying 40 goals and 23 assists in 38 games played. Following his time with the Wolves, his skill landed him a spot on the Rink Hockey Academy U16 Team out of Winnipeg, Manitoba for the 2018/19 season. In one season, Lies put up 17 goals and 16 assists for a total of 33 points in 38 games.

In 2019, Lies was selected with the 12^th pick in the third round by the Vancouver Giants in the WHL Bantam Draft. During this same time, Lies was also selected to represent Team Manitoba in the Canada Winter Games, playing in 6 games, he scored one goal and claimed 5^th place in the tournament.

From 2019 to 2022, Lies played in 132 games for the Vancouver Giants. During his time with the Giants, he put up 13 goals, 20 assists for a total of 33 points. Last season, Lies was traded to the Saskatoon Blades, where he had his most successful season in his WHL career. Throughout the 2022/23 regular season and playoffs, Lies scored 12 goals and tallied 15 assists for 27 points in 71 games with the Blades.

This year, Lies has decided to return to his hometown and finish his Junior career alongside his brother, Joey, and with the team he watched growing up as a kid. Coming in at 6’1, 205 lbs, Lies is a big and strong Power Forward with exceptional skating ability and an elite shot. Lies will be a huge addition to the Bombers front end this season, not only with his skill set but with his experience and leadership abilities.

“We are obviously very excited to add Justin for so many reasons. Not only is he a great player and will make us a better team, but it’s been a long time since we have two local brothers on the Bombers. This is a special time for our fans to have Joey and Justin playing for the Bombers together. There are a lot of young kids that look up to these two. As a Flin Floner, I’m proud to have these two representing our great community.” Head Coach/GM – Mike Reagan

The Flin Flon Bombers and their fans are very excited to have Lies back in town and can’t wait to see the difference he will make not only on the ice, but in the community as well.

Flin Flon Minor Hockey is looking for volunteers to help out and make it another successful season.

FFMH is calling on parents  whose kids are in minor hockey to put in at least 6 hours of volunteer time. U-7 and U-9 parents will be needed to help out with home  tournaments.

U11- to U-15 parents will have to complete 6 hours of volunteer time in other ways.

There will be plenty of opportunities to complete hours,  but volunteers are needed asap to help get the season going other wise they may have to cancel some events.

If you are interested in helping out please contact Laurelle Trubiak at volunteercoordinatorffmh@gmail.com.

The PBCN Selects will open up Main Camp tomorrow at the Whitney Forum with around 50 kids expected to come and try to earn a spot.

Kids are expected from all over including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Alberta, Nunavet and Minnesota.

Camp will open with registration tomorrow at 2:30 with the first inter squad game at 4. Scrimmages will continue through out the weekend with the White and Blue game wrapping things up Saturday night at 7 pm.

It is $125.00 for open try outs and if you are interested in taking part you can call 431-346-0132.  

The first round of the Battle of Northern Manitoba went down last night at the refurbished Roy H Johnston Arena as the Pas Blizzard took on the Flin Flon Bombers .

The Blizzard got the best of their counter parts from the SJHL, coming back from a two goal deficit to stun the Bombers 4 to 3.

Flin Flon jumped out to a 2 to 0 lead in the first period courtesy of top prospects Koen Senft and Jack Bechard.

After a shaky first period, the Blizzard were able to cash in on some chances and the pride of Thompson, Brady Krentz was able to find the back of the net twice including a power play goal late in the frame.

Krentz was able to re-direct a shot past Bomber goalie Ryan Bain with just three seconds remaining in the period and gave the Blizzard some big momentum coming out for the third.

The Blizzard kept coming and Isaac Tomchak gave them their first lead of the night when he beat Bain with a nice snap shot off the post and in, just over four minutes into the final period.

Flin Flon would answer when local product Ryder Mucha capitalized on a Blizzard give away in front of their own net,  and Mucha put a nice shot over the Shoulder of Blizzard goalie Loic Morin.

The game remained tied and looked like it might be headed to over time, but the Bombers had a major blunder at their blue line and veteran defenseman Emilien Charron grabbed the puck and raced down the ice firing a shot low blocker on Ryan Bain with just 29 seconds left in regulation.

The over 500 in attendance at the Roy went wild and gave the Blizzard a great ovation and everyone was standing and cheering.

The Bombers looked stunned but will get a chance to avenge the loss when they host the re-match this Friday at the Whitney Forum.

Once again you can get the action on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com starting with the Great North GM Pre Game Show at 7:15.

The biggest golf tournament in Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan wrapped up yesterday with Jeff Woods claiming the Walt Cunningham Labour Day Title at the Phantom Lake Golf Club.

Woods took the Championship Flight beating Jake Champaign in Match Play.

This is the third Walt Cunningham title for Woods who last won the event in 2019.

Dave Salahub placed third beating Ryan Galay.

Brett McElroy took the 1st flight.

2nd  Flight- Nelson Scott

3rd  Flight- Wes Gawiak

4th  Flight- DJ Wilson

5th  Flight- Erin Ginnell

6th  Flight- Mitch Reid

7th  Flight- Eric Rutherford

8th Flight- Colin McPherson

9th Flight- Dan Ginnell

10th Flight- Curt Arnold

11th Flight- Colin McPhee

A big thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers and golfers for coming out and making this tournament a huge success.

The U-15 Norman Northstars held their try outs in Thompson this past weekend at the CA Nesbit Arena.

Three kids from Flin Flon were able to make the squad including Defenseman Ashton Harrison,  Defenseman Ethan Pawlachuk and Forward Michael Pawlachuk.

The season will begin October the 7th in Winnipeg as part of the Manitoba Showcase weekend.

Norman will play 34 games this year with  the majority of their home  games out of The Pas and Thompson , and are hoping to add a few games in Flin Flon.

Another exciting Flin Flon Bomber Main Camp wrapped up at the whitney Forum this afternoon with the annual Maroon and White game.

Team Maroon was able to hang on for an exciting 3 to 2 victory.

Team Maroon goals came from Alexi Sylvestre, Dawson Karol and new comer Reid Arberry from Fort ST John BC. Arberry played for former Bomber Todd Alexander last year.

Cohen Senft and Aiden Chow scored the Team White goals.

Four goalies saw action today with returning goalie Kenny Marquart stopping all 17 shots he faced and Ryan Bain stopped 7 out 9 for Team Maroon.

Harmon Laser Hume stopped 11 out of 12 with local product Logan Grenier stopping 7 out of 9.

The Bombers will cut down some numbers and get ready for their first pre-season game on Tuesday against the Pas Blizzard.

The Battle Of Northern Manitoba hits the Roy H Johnston Arena on Tuesday and back to the Whitney Forum for the rematch on Friday.

You can listen to both games on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com including the Great North GM Pre Game Show from the Pas at 6:45 on Tuesday.

If your child is interested in playing hockey this year and hasn't tried it before, Flin Flon Minor Hockey is putting together a try it night.

They provide everything including the equipment and a safe environment so your kid can come out and see what it is all about.

This is taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday September the 5th and 6th at the Whitney Forum starting at 5:30.

FFMH will have represenitives at the rink to assist all players and parents.

Today is the day that hockey fans from all over Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been waiting for, Flin Flon Bomber training camp.

Camp opened up today with registration at 10 and practises are underway with scrimmages starting at 4:30.

Around 60 kids are expected at camp and Head Coach and GM, Mike Reagan tells us the break down of the kids that will competing for spots this weekend.

" We are excited about camp, we had 3 or 4 days of guys skating earlier on with some of our WHL draft picks, some of our list guys , SJHL  draft picks so kind of a pre camp. The guys are excited, we are geared up and the guys look forward to beginning the process."

Camp will continue through out the weekend with some of the highlights including the Jonny Dougs Cup on Saturday night  and the Maroon and White Game on Sunday at 1:30.

Here is the complete schedule

Creighton Recreation is bringing back their skating program to the Sportex in October.

Once again there will be programs for everybody including Parents and Tots,Beginners and Intermediate.

The 8 week program starts on October the 14th and will go til December the 16th.

It is $50.00 to join with instructors Joleen and Rikki and you can register at the Creighton Rec Office at 306-688-5555.