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Bombers Stars Preview

 

 

The Flin Flon Bombers are in the Battlefords preparing for game 1 of their SJHL Semi final series.

 

Flin Flon took out Weyburn in 5 games while the heavilly favoured North Stars beat Kindersley in 5 despite some tough injuries and battling the flew.

 

This is the first playoff meeting since 2011 when the Bombers beat the Stars 3 games to 1 to win the Wild Card. A lot has changed since their last playoff meeting, Ken Persen was the head coach and Dan O'Conner was the play by play guy.

 

The North Stars had the best record during the regular season at : 43-11-2-2 and were the only team to hit 90 points. They were also 23-4-0-2 at home. Flin Flon finished at : 34-20-0-4 to finish 6th overall and did beat the Stars 4 out of 6 regular season matchups including all 3 at the Whitney Forum.

 

Battleford entered the post season red hot winning their last 10 games and are 14-1 in their last 15. They also haven't lost a home game since Jan the 6th.

 

Flin Flon went 5-5 in their last 10, but after a minor hic-cup in game 1 against the Wings are looking like that team that rattled off 7 straight wins before Christmas and another 8 in a row in January.

 

This is a very intriguing matchup , where we should see some very entertaining end to end hockey. Both these teams can fly and there will be no shortage of excitement in what has become a very good rivalry.

 

Rumour has it lots of Bomber fans will make their way to the Civic Centre this weekend as they have been a big part of the post season story including 200 strong in Weyburn last Saturday.

 

I think goaltending as it always is will be a big factor and you can't get much better between the pipes than the Bombers did in the opening round. Rookie sensation Brenden Newton since coming in relief of Zac Robidoux in game 1 , picked up 4 straight wins with sensational numbers including a gaa of 1.32 and a save % of .964. He allowed just 5 goals in his 4 starts including a big shut out in game 2.

 

Tyler Fuhr has been the go to guy for Battleford after picking him up from Estevan January the 10th. So far in the playoffs Fuhr is 4-1 with solid numbers including a gaa of 2.42 and a save % of .917. He struggled against the Bombers while in Estevan this year, but got a confidence builder when he was able to beat them in back to back starts with Batlleford in late February.

 

Newton only played the Stars once all season and that just happened to be his first SJHL win on October the 3rd, when the Bombers doubled the Stars 8-4 at the Whitney Forum.

 

Igor Leonenko who scored 47 times in the regular season, had good success against the Bombers picking up 11 points in the 6 meetings including 7 goals. He had 5 in the last 2 meetings including a natural hat -trick and might be the best player in the league right now. McMillen and Delainey who may be injured  also had good seasons against Flin Flon and combined for 18 points.

 

The trio of Smith, Switzer and Kocur combined for 29 points against the Stars and all three are playing very well in the post season including Switzer who has 4 goals, including a pair of goals  which helped knock Weyburn out last Saturday.

 

Flin Flon will have to start game one tonight without the services of defensemen Joseph Leonidas, Brandom Masson and forwards Brandon Lesko and Jason Lavallee who will all serve the second game of their suspensions which occured at the end of game 4 against Weyburn. Morin also remains out with an injury.

 

Here is the schedule of games and don't forget to listen in to all the action on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com including the Murray GM Coach's Show 15 minutes before puck drop.

 

Game 1 Apr 1 Flin Flon at Battlefords 8:30 MB time

Game 2 Apr 2 Flin Flon at Battlefords 8:30 MB time

Game 3 Apr 5 Battlefords at Flin Flon 7:30 PM

Game 4 Apr 6 Battlefords at Flin Flon 7:30 PM 

Game 5 Apr 9 Flin Flon at Battlefords 8:30MB time

Game 6 Apr 11 Battlefords at Flin Flon 7:30 PM

 Game 7 Apr 13 Flin Flon at Battlefords 8:30 MB time

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