After an 8 day break the Flin Flon Bombers will play 3 games in 3 nights, all against Sherwood Division opponents.
First up are the Ice Wolves in Laronge, and the second meeting of the season between the two clubs.
Flin Flon took the first game convincingly 8-1 at the Whitney Forum back on October the 4th. The Bombers scored 6 power play goals that night and made the Ice Wolves pay dearly for being undiciplined.
It was also a breakout game for forward Alex Smith, who picked 4 points in that game en route to his first player of the week honor.
Flin Flon has scored 25 more goals than Laronge this year and have also given up 16 less, but this game will be anything but easy.
Mike Reagan Head Coach and GM of the Bombers says the Mel Hegland Uniplex is the toughest place to get points out of in the league, and I totally agree with him.
There have been a lot of long nights for the Bombers in this building throughout the years, and Laronge took 2 out of 3 at the Mel last season. The Ice Wolves are always tough to beat in their own rink and are a lot different club on the much smaller ice surface, and they seem to ice a team that come at you physically and take advantage of the small tight building.
The Ice Wolves are 4-3-1 at home and are only 2-6-1 on the road, while the Bombers are: 5-0-2 at home and 3-2-1-2 on the road.
These two teams have combined for over 800 minutes in penaltys this year, so it may get a little interesting with the specialty teams in this game. Flin Flon has the best power play in the league at 29%, while the Ice Wolves are holding their own in 6th spot at 17.8%. PK numbers are very close with Laronge coming in 5th spot at 83.8%, and the Bombers just behind at 83.5.
Coming into Friday's game Laronge have lost 3 in a row to drop their record to 6-9-2- 14 points and the basement of the Sherwood Division. The Bombers come in winners in 4 of their last 6 games and are second in the Sherwood Division with 21 points, and just 2 points behind first place Melfort.
If Laronge could upset the Bombers, they could get a rejuvination in confidence and turn their whole season around. Flin Flon really needs this one too, especially playing Melfort in back to back games Saturday and Sunday with first place in the Division on the line.
Congratulations to the Bombers 20 year old forward Chris Rauckman who continues to make headlines this year after being selected the RBC Player Of The Month for October. Rauckman lit it up scoring 14 goals and adding 7 assists in 15 games. Rauckman was also selected the third star of the month for the entire CJHL and has only been held off the scoresheet 3 times this season.
You can follow Rauckman and the rest of the Bombers this weekend on 102 CFAR and flinflononline.com. We will broadcast both Friday and Saturday's games including the Murray GM Coach's Show at 6:45 from Laronge Friday night. We hit the airwaves at 7:15 from the Whitney Forum Saturday night when the first place Melfort Mustangs come to Flin Flon the first time this season. FYI, Sunday's game is a 6PM start time, which will not be broadcast.
