Fresh off their longest road trip of the season, the Flin Flon Bombers return to the Whitney Forum to host the defending champion Melfort Mustangs tonight at the Whitney Forum.
Melfort comes to town with the second best record in the league at 13-2-1-1, 1 point behind the front running Battleford Stars with 2 games in hand.
Flin Flon finds themselves fourth in the Sherwood, 2 points behind Laronge who beat Nipawin 3-1 last night.
This is the second meeting of the season with Melfort pulling out a 2-1 win September the 23rd at the Palace.
The Bombers led that game 1-0 late, but got into penalty trouble and gave up a couple of late power play goals, spoiling a terrific performance from goalie Zac Robidoux.
Flin Flon will have a bit of a different look tonight as no.17 Michael Knaub has been traded to Portage of the MJHL. Knaub was very popular in the community and I am sad to see him go. He was always very respectful towards me and I enjoyed interviewing him and watching him play. He has a great passion for the game and will be missed.
The trade is in exchange for future considerations and a player development fee. This will cancel out the futures the Bombers owed Portage for the Zac Robidoux deal made before the season.
Congratulations to Bomber forward Alex Smith on being selected the SJHL player of the week. Alex scored 5 goals on the last road trip, 4 in the Estevan game alone and will be counted on to help the Bombers move up the standings.
He along with linemates Brandon Switzer and Joel Kocur have accounted for 24 out of the teams 47 goals so far this year. Chances are these guys need to score in order for the Bombers to win.
Melfort comes to town with a potent offense that has scored 63 goals in 17 games and is only behind Battleford in goals scored so far this season.
They are led by defending league scoring champion Travis Mayan , who also leads the league in scoring this season with 30 points in 17 games including 17 goals. Tristan Frei and Justin Boyer are also dangerous.
The Bombers did a good job containing them last time. We will not have the broadcast tonight, but will have the return affair in Melfort tomorrow, starting with the Murray GM Coach's Show at 7:15.
I was sad to hear of the passing of former Bomber Wayne Hawrysh over the weekend. Wayne played for the Bombers between 1967 and 1970 and was drafted by Detroit 33rd overall in 1969.
He was born in Dauphin , but stayed up north after his playing days and called the Pas his home. Wayne was very good for hockey in the North and was instrumental in helping bring a MJHL franchise to OCN in 1996.
Wayne was not only a big part of getting the Blizzard into the MJHL, but was also a big part of their success. RIP Wayne you will be greatly missed.
