With Covid cases hitting the thousands, there is a lot of uncertainty as we count down the final few hours of 2021.

The World Junior Hockey Championships just got cancelled and athletes all over the world must be wondering if their season's will get cancelled too.

The local sports scene got decimated last year and it was nice to see kids out getting exercise and having fun this year.

Even with all the rules and regulations the local high school's still managed to pull off  football and volleyball seasons. It is now basketball season and it looks like it will go ahead  at least for now in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said yesterday they will not be imposing any more public health orders or restrictions and will continue to watch the hospitalizations and intensive care numbers carefully.

They will take action if the situation changes.

For now,  it looks good for the Creighton Kodiak basketball program which has lots of tournaments planned for 2022.

The Senior Kodiak Girls will host a tournament the weekend of January the 7th and 8th.

The Senior B Boys are off to PA the same weekend and the Senior A Boys go to Wakaw, January the 28th and 29th.

We will post the schedules on flinflononline.com when they become available.

Good news for the Minnesota Wild's Dean Evason who had his contract extended by the club yesterday.

Evason,  who was born in Flin Flon signed a multi year extension yesterday and the Wild  appear to be on their way to a third straight playoff with Evason in charge.

The Wild have won 19 of 30 games this season and are  62-29-7 since Evason took  over the club in 2020. He was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2021 and is regarded as one of the most passionate coach's in the NHL.

The announcement comes as the Wild prepare to play the St Louis Blues in this weekend's Winter Classic at Target Field.

Evason also pointed out in his press conference that it was important that the entire coaching staff was being brought back before he signed the extension.

Congratulations to Jacob Vockler who was selected for his fine play in December and is the Shaw Communications Player Of The Month.

In 7 games,  Vockler collected 7 points including 4 goals and now has 21 points in 26 games so far this season and is 6th in team scoring.

He is currently 10th in overall rookie scoring.

One of his most impressive stats is he has got points in 13 of his last 14 games and has been one of the Bomber's most consistent players the last few months.

It looks like the Flin Flon Bombers and Laronge Ice Wolves will have to wait a little longer to rekindle their rivalry.

The two teams were poised to meet with a home and home this New Year's weekend.

The SJHL announced on their website that the two games have been postponed until a later date.

With the way that the new Covid variant  Omicron is spreading across the country,  the league isn't taking any chances with players returning from their holiday break.

The SJHL says this is a precautionary measure to allow the players to be properly tested before getting back on the ice.

Make up dates have yet to be determined.

If you are looking for something new to try and would like to get out of the house with some friends, you might be interested in the Adult To Curl program.

The Town Of Creighton will be getting this going for 2022 and it will take place Monday's starting January the 10th.

It will go for 10 weeks and is only $25.00 for one hour each week at the Uptown Curling Club.

All the equipment is supplied and all you have to do is show up.

Please register a head of time at 306-688-3538.

The Norman Northstars 9 game losing streak is no more as they won an OT thriller yesterday against the Winnipeg Bruins 6 to 5.

Down 3 to 1 in the second the Northstars never quit working and were led by Flin Flon's Magnus Pearson who picked up a pair of assists.

Norman actually took the lead in the third period, before the Bruins would tie up the game at 5 around the 8 minute mark.

It didn't take long for the Northstars to win it in the extra period when their leading scorer Brady Krentz scored just 59 seconds in for his 16th of the season.

Norman picks up a very important win to improve to 9-19-3 and are now 3 points out of the final playoff spot.

They will go on their Christmas break and are back on the ice in the new year when they host Pembina Valley for a pair of games  January the 8th and 9th.

The Flin Flon Bombers will roll into their Christmas break with one of their biggest wins of the season, thanks to a 5 goal third period on Saturday.

The Bombers responded after a 7 to 2 loss in Laronge on Friday. Flin Flon limped into Laronge with 10 regulars out of their line-up and looked good early with Xavier Lapointe scoring two quick goals.

That was short lived and the Wolves erupted for 7 straight to pick up their 5th straight win.

Young Max Hildebrand got the call to start Saturday and played his best game of the season and only gave up 1 goal in the first 40 minutes to keep his team in the game.

Down 1-0 early in the third the Bombers exploded for 5 led by Matt Egan who scored a pair including the table setter 1:44 into the final period.

The Bombers caught fire and scored four times in the first 6 minutes with Martens (12), Smith (11) and Tremblay(14) all finding the back of the net.

Egan would add his second of the night when he scored  into the empty net with just 3 seconds left in regulation.

The two Laronge goals came from Gavin Mattey and Aaron Greyeyes.

Max Hildebrand made 33 saves for his 5th win of the season whle Laronge starter Xavier Cannon stopped 27 shots and took the loss.

The Christmas break  couldn't of came at a better time as the Bombers continue to have countless injuries,  and did get Cole Vardy and Zak Smith back but are still without 8 regulars.

Head Coach and GM, Mike Reagan did mention that he expects many of them back after their Chistmas break.

With Saturday's win, the Bombers are 21-10-0-1 and trail Melfort by 2 points for top spot in the Sherwood Division with 2 games in hand. They are tied with Battleford for fourth overall with 43 points.

The Bombers will now get 12 days off and will get back on the ice to close out 2021 with another home and home with Laronge. The Wolves are here for a 7:30 clash New Year's Eve and the Bombers return the favour New Year's Day.

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

The Flin Flon Bombers will close out the Christmas break with a home and home against the Laronge Ice Wolves this weekend.

Tonight, the Bombers hit the Mel Hegland Uniplex and will face the Wolves for the first time since October the 2nd.

Flin Flon won both meetings in early October by scores of 7 to 4 and 6 to 4. Both teams are a lot different since then especially Laronge.

The Wolves are entering the weekend playing their best hockey of the season and have won 4 in a row and 7 of their last 10.

The biggest reason is the return of their starting goalie Xavier Cannon. The Wolves are 10-5-1 in games that Cannon starts and play so much different when he is in between the pipes.

They have only collected three wins when some one else starts and no question they would have a lot more wins if he wasn't battling injuries.

The Bombers come into the weekend at 20-9-1 and are tied with the Melfort Mustangs for first in the Sherwood Division. Flin Flon has two games in hand.

They are third overall and are fresh off a weekend split with Weyburn. The Wings came to Flin Flon and played well, winning Friday and giving them a good push on Saturday before falling 6 to 4.

The good news for the Bombers is they are starting to get some bodies back as Cole Vardy played Saturday and I hear that Jaeden Mercier could be close. This would be huge as he was leading the Bombers in scoring when he got hurt.

Jacob Vockler remains the hottest Bomber with points in 11 of his last 12 games. The team continues to score by committee with Jaxon Martens their only player in the top 20 of scoring with 30 points.

No matter what go's down you will have the best seat in the house as 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com will broadcast tonight's game  with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:15 and drop of the puck at 7:30.

This will be our final broadcast before Christmas as we will broadcast both games on New Year's weekend to close out 2021.

The Creighton Kodiaks Senior Basketball team finally got a chance to travel for their first basketball tournament of the season.

Creighton was in Hudson Bay on Saturday and played well picking up 2 wins and a loss.

The Kodiaks will enjoy their Christmas break before getting ready for tournaments in 2022. They will head to  Wakaw January the 28th and 29th and Tisdale with the dates yet to be announced.

A special congratulations to the Creighton Kodiaks Caleb Janzen who has received a special award on behalf of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Caleb had just received the Roughriders 13th Fan Of Honor.

This award is for the fans who truly embody what it means to be a member of Rider Nation.

It is the highest honour a member of Rider Nation can receive, highlighting major contributions the individual has made to the proud tradition of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club.

Here is the criteria the Roughriders look for in handing out this award.

• An individual who has evidence of their passion and devotion to the Saskatchewan Roughriders

• An individual who has an inspirational story or personal history involving the Roughriders

• An individual who demonstrates actions and behaviors that illustrate a positive role model in their community.

This coudn't go to a more amazing person and once again congratulations Caleb and well deserved.

It looked like it was going to be a promising season for the Norman Northstars, but things have changed drastically the last few weeks.

Norman dropped both games to the Winnipeg Thrashers this past  weekend and the losing streak is now up to 8 in a row.

Saturday they lost 13 to 3 and had a nice come back yesterday that just came up short in a 5 to 4 set back.

Norman did fight back after falling behind 4-0 with good second and third periods.

Ian Snooks was the Northstars best offensive player from the weekend with 3 goals,  while Flin Flon's Magnus Pearson scored and Nolan Rideout chipped  in with  an assist.

The Northstars are tenth overall at 8-18-3 and will look to snap their losing streak with two more games before the Christmas break.

It will be a big weekend with the Winnipeg Bruins in Thompson for two games Saturday and Sunday and just 2 points separating them in the standings. 

The Weyburn Red Wings looked anything like a team with just 7 wins when they made their only regular season visit to the Whitney Forum Friday and Saturday.

Friday night,  the Wings were beating the Bombers to every loose puck and got great goaltending from Boston Gelowitz who was making just his second career start.

Gelowitz, a call up from Regina Junior B stopped 44 out of 46 shots as the Wings stunned the Bombers 5 to 2.

Troy Hamilton led the way for Weyburn with a pair of empty net goals to allow the Wings to pick up the win.

Nathan Gagne and Cole Duperreault had the Flin Flon goals while Max Hildebrand got the start in goal and stopped 22 out of 25 and took the loss

You knew the Bombers would come out and play better the next night and after a rough first period looked like the Bombers of old.

The teams scored a combined 6 goals in the first period and it was tied at 3 after 1.

Martens, Vockler and Tremblay scored for Flin Flon while the Wings offense came from Birnie, Whillans and Hanson.

That was the wake up call the Bombers needed as they came out and dominated the next two periods and took advantage of some Weyburn penalties.

Matt Raymond has been great since coming back from injury and potted his third midway through the second frame which gave the Bombers all the momentum.

Kylynn Olafson and Xavier Lapointe would score power play goals while Beau Larson replied short handed, but it was too late as Flin Flon picked up the 6 to 4 win.

The Bombers dominated the shots 50 to 20 including 19 to 4 in the third period.

Cal Schell was back between the pipes and made 16 saves for his 16th win of the year.

Zane Winter got the start for the Wings and he finished up with 26 saves.

With the win the Bombers improve to 20-9-0-1 and are just 2 points up on Melfort for top spot in the Sherwood Division with a game in hand.

Weyburn will fall to 8-18-3 and remain in last place.

Flin Flon will play two more games before the Christmas break with a home and home against Laronge this weekend.

This won't be easy as the Wolves are coming on with 4 straight wins and are  7-3 in their last 10.

Their starting goalie, Xavier Cannon is back and healthy and is 10-5-1 on the season and you have to wonder what their record might  be if he had played  more games.

We will have all the action from Laronge this Friday including the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:15 an drop of the puck at 7:30. 

The Flin Flon Bombers are back on the ice tonight and will meet the Weyburn Red Wings in a pair of games at the Whitney Forum.

The Bombers are coming off a hard fought 3 to 2 win in Nipawin on Tuesday and are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10.

They continue to battle with Melfort for first place in the Sherwood Division and lead the Mustangs by 4 points with a game in hand.

It has been a tough year for Weyburn who are dead last in the league at 7- 17-3 and have only won 2 of their last 10 and really struggle to score with just 67 goals in 27 games.

They lost in Melfort on Wednesday 4 to 3 to begin their Northern road trip.

Nikolas Sombrowski is their only player in double figures in goals and enters the weekend with 12.

The Bombers only have 2 players in the top 20 in scoring with Zac Smith and Jaxon Martens who have 27 points each but they have a balanced attack and every night some one different stands up.

Flin Flon has at least 6 players in their line-up with  20 points and several others are very close, so they don't have to depend on just a few players to score.

You would think it would be a big mis-match this weekend with the Bombers owning one of the best records at home at 13-2-0-1 while the Wings have won only once on the road all season.

Saying that, you can never take your opponent for granted especially in the SJHL where anyone can beat anyone on a given night.

The worst thing for the Bombers will be going in over confident, as the Wings will have nothing to lose.

It will be an up hill battle for Weyburn who will have 5 of their players suspended for improper behavior on social media.

Make sure you catch all the action this weekend right here on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:15.

The Norman Northstars will try to snap a 6 game losing streak  this weekend when they host the Winnipeg Thrashers at the CA Nesbitt Arena in Thompson.

Norman currently sits 10^th overall in the standings at : 8-16-3 while the Thrashers are 5^th overall at 14-8-1.

This will be the third and fourth meetings of the season  with the Thrashers taking both games in Winnipeg back in October by scores of 7 to 4 and 3 to 2.

The Werbicki Trucking Bantam A Bombers will play their last tournament before Christmas as they will attend the Dauphin U-15 tournament starting tomorrow.

The Bombers will play their first game Friday night against Thompson at 7:30.

Saturday, they will play 3 games against Boissevain at 10:00, Dauphin at noon and Lorette at 4:15.

The two finals will go Sunday at 10 and noon.

The post Doug Johnson era begun last night for the Nipawin Hawks who tried to cool off one of the league's best clubs, the Flin Flon Bombers.

Young Tad Kozun has been thrown the reigns and I thought the Hawks responded despite the 3 to 2 loss.

The first 6 minutes flew by and it looked like we may get some exciting end to end action but Nipawin eventually  slowed down the game and it became tight checking.

No goals in the first, but the Bombers opened things up in the second when Mackenzie Carson took advantage of a Hawk miscue at centre ice.

The Hawks looked like they were going to get a chance to enter the Bomber zone,  but mishandled the puck and Carson scooched over the Nipawin blue line and fooled Laser Hume.

Nipawin did respond with a 5 on 3 PP goal from Braxton Buchberger just 5 minutes later and were very much in the game and were not allowing a lot of quality chances against. 

The red hot Jacob Vockler helped  the Bombers restore the lead early in the third when he added his 7th on the Power Play. Vockler now has points in 10 straight games.

Matt Raymond would then have a puck re-direct off his back from a nice shot from the blue line courtesy of Cory King. This was a big goal and the eventaul game winner as Nipawin wasn't quite done yet.

Alex Johnson scored a short handed goal with just 36 seconds left in regulation when he went in alone on Cal Schell and scored five hole.

This gave the Hawks lots of life but the Bombers held on and picked up their 19th win in the process.

Flin Flon improves to 19-8-0-1 and have a 6 point lead on Melfort for top spot in the Sherwood Division and both the Bombers and Stangs have played 28 games.

Nipawin will fall to 10-14-0-5 and are in the basement of the Sherwood and sit 9th overall, currently out of the playoffs.

The Bombers will get a chance to get more points this weekend as they welcome the last place Weyburn Red Wings to town Friday and Saturday.

The Wings have only 7 wins this year but if the SJHL and hockey has taught us anything that you can never over look your opponent. They will have nothing to lose.

We will broadcast Friday's game on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com beginning with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:15 and drop of the puck at 7:30.

Flin Flon Minor Hockey hosted their first tournament in almost two full seasons this past weekend at the Whitney Forum and Sportex.

8 teams took part from Flin Flon, The Pas and Thompson.

Here are the playoff results:

Mel Pearson Final A Event- The Pas Black 10. The Pas Red 8.

Paddy Ginnell B Event- Thompson Senators beat Thompson Jets 8 to 5.

Jack Turner C Event- McKeens Trucking 7, Steelworkers 3.

Scott Davidson D Event- FF Firemen 13, Thompson Stars 5

Flin Flon hosted the year end tournament for Senior High School Volleyball this past weekend at Hapnot and McIsaac.

The tournament featured the 4 best teams from the North from Flin Flon, The Pas, Cranberry and Moose Lake.

Both the Kings and Queens dominated going 8-1 and ended up winning the tournament.

The Kings beat MBCI from thePas 2 sets to 1, 23-25 and 25-23 and 16-14.

The Queens also beat MBCI in two straight sets 25-23 and 25-18.

The Creighton Kodiak Senior Girls Basketball team were in Hudson Bay and won both their games against the Riders 88-18 and 91-29.

The Manitoba Curling Hall Of Fame and Museum has announced their inductees for 2021-22 and there will be a rink from Flin Flon being recognized.

Congratulations to Ethel Wright, Norma McLean, Jean McKenzie and Philomene Floch- O'Reilly the 1955 Manitoba and Western Canadian Champions.

This was a major accomplishment as they were the first team out of Winnipeg to win the Manitoba Championship.

They were also the first Manitoba team to win the Western Canadian Championship and helped create the competitive opportunity for many champions that have followed.

The ceremony will take place in Winnipeg on Saturday May the 14th, 2022.

The Flin Flon Bombers continued to shine on home ice this past weekend and found a way to take 3 out of 4 points against the first place Humboldt Broncos.

It was a slow start on Friday as the Bombers found themselves down 2-0 early in the game.

Flin Flon continued to battle back and Nathan Gagne found the back of the net with 10 seconds left in regulation as the Whitney Forum erupted and we got some Over Time.

3 on 3 solved nothing and the game went to a shoot out. The Broncos were able to solve Cal Schell twice and eventually took the game 4 to 3.

The Bombers were fortunate to get the single point as they did not have a very good first or second period but were able to hang around.

Flin Flon came barrelling out for the re-match on Saturday and I thought their first period was the best period of hockey they have played all season.

The Bombers out shot the Broncos 21 to 5 and scored three times courtesy of Martens (10), Tremblay (12) and Duperreault with his team leading 13th.

The teams would trade goals in the second with Jacob Vockler scoring the eventual game winner when the Bronco's Noah Barlage coughed up the puck in front of his own net.

Humboldt would get on the board when Alex Morozoff scored a nice wrist shot from the high slot.

Flin Flon kepth their foot on the gas pedal in the third and got two more goals from Zak Smith and Prince Albert's Cole Tanchuk who scored his first ever SJHL goal.

Tanchuk was able to convert a nice low shot from the point that snuck past Rayce Ramsay and gave them some insurance late in the game.

The Broncos did manage to get a couple of late goals from McGrath and Marburg, but that wasn't enough as the Bombers doubled the Broncos 6 to 3.

Cal Schell was steady in making 25 saves and picked up his 14th win of the season. Rayce Ramsay may have given up 5 goals but he played well and did keep his team in the game. He suffered just his 6th loss.

A  big weekend for the Maroon and White Express who improve their record to 18-8-0-1 and now sit 4 points up on Melfort for top spot in the Sherwood Division.

Flin Flon will also improve to 13-2-1 at home and finish the season series with Humboldt at 2-1-1. Not a bad record against the best team in the league.

Humboldt remains first overall at 22-8 and are once again tied with Estevan.

The Bombers will now look ahead to the Nipawin Hawks who did the unthinkable on the weekend and fired long time bench boss Doug Johnson.

Nipawin has struggled this year and have gone 2-5-3 in their last 10 but you would think their organization would be patient for a guy that brought them a league title just 3 years ago.

Not to mention the winningest coach in Hawks history.

We will be at the Cage on Tuesday for the fourth meeting between these two teams this season and the Bombers holding the edge 2 games to 1.

Flin Flon won the lat meeting 5 to 0 just a few weeks back on November the 23rd.

Join us for all the action with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:15 and drop of the puck at 7:30.

The Norman Northstars are back on home ice this weekend trying to snap a 4 game losing skid as they will host the Eastman Selects in a pair of games.

Norman has dropped their last 4 games all on the road and have been out scored 33 to 4.

The Northstars sit in 9th over- all with 19 points tied with the Winnipeg Bruins and are currently 1 point behind Yellowhead and Pembina Valley for the last playoff spot.

Eastman is third over all with 31 points and beat the Northstars in their only meeting 6 to 4 back on October the 10th.

Game times are 7:30 Saturday and 1:30 Sunday at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena in Thompson.

Flin Flon will be hosting a Northen Manitoba playoff this Saturday with the 4 best volleyball teams in the North.

Hapnot will host the boys games with Flin Flon, The Pas, Cranberry and Moose Lake competing.

The girls games will be played at McIsaac with Flin Flon, Cranberry, the Pas and OCN being represented.

Games start Saturday morning at 9 and the finals will be played at 5.

Attendance is once again allowed as long as you have your double vaccination card.

Congratulations to the Flin Flon Bombers Cole Duperreault on being recognized for his fine play.

The SJHL handed out their players of the week and Duperreault was selected as the top rookie.

Duperreault helped the Bombers go 2-1 and was instrumental in their success including an assist against the Nipawin Hawks on Tuesday and 3 points including a goal against Humboldt on the weekend.

Duperreault continues to be one of the Bombers top offensive threats and leads the team in goals with 12 and is tied with Zac Smith and Jaxon Martens with points at 24.

He is also one of Flin Flon's most consistent players with points in 9 of his last 10 games.