courtesy of bombers.ca

The Flin Flon Bombers are proud to announce that forward Cole Duperreault has been named the Bombers Player of the Month for December.

The Martensville, Saskatchewan product had a team high 7 points (4 G, 3A) in 5 games this month. Cole also had a plus/minus rating of +5.

Duperreault currently leads the Bombers in scoring with 42 points and is fourth among all SJHL players. Cole is  second in the league with 23 goals in just 28 games.

This is the second time Cole has been named the Bombers Player of the Month so far this season.

(Photo Credit – Kelly Jacobson)

Creighton Recreation has announced that they are bringing back their skating program.

The 8 week program  will take place Saturday's at the Sportex starting on January the 21st.

They will have programs for all age groups including Parents and Tots, Pre Beginners and Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced and a program for Adults.

The instructors will be Carla, Rikki and Joleen and you can register at the Rec Office by calling 306-688-3538.  

There will be a basketball referee's clinic taking place at Hapnot Collegiate on Saturday January the 11th.

It will take place between 9 and 5 and they would like you there 10 minutes early.

It is absolutely free as the FFSD is sponsoring the event.

You can e-mail Craig McIntosh if you are interested in taking part at cmcintosh@ffsd.mb.ca.

Please bring a water bottle and athletic clothing. Lunch is provided.

Flin Flon Minor Hockey will be starting their Christmas break today and take a few weeks off from the rink.

2023 looks like it will be very busy on the tournament front and the first event is ready to go for the very first weekend.

The Jason Morran U-11 tournament will take place January the 6th to the 8th at both the Sportex and Whitney Forum.

Teams will be competing from Flin Flon, The Pas, Thompson, Cross Lake and Swan River. 

Games will start on Friday the 6th at 4 with round robin to continue through Saturday.

The B-Final will go Sunday at 10 followed by the A-Final at 11:30.

I will post the complete schedule closer to the tournament date. 

We have added something special to our Flin Flon Bomber broadcasts and are reaching out to Bomber's  of the past that have carried the Bomber name with them to successful professional careers.

We recently  reached out to a couple of great players from the 70's including Gene Carr and Jordy Douglas.

Gene played with the Bombers between 1969-71 and was the center  brought in to replace Bobby Clarke after he went to the NHL. Carr put up 177 points in 2 years with the Bombers and was drafted 4th overall by the ST.Louis Blues in 1971.

Jordy played for the Bombers between 1975 and 1978 , the last 3 seasons in the WCHL. Douglas ended up with 213 points over the three years with 116 in his final year.

Douglas decided to go to the newly formed WHA, and bypass the NHL, but would wind up there later in his career.

We reached out to these Bomber legends who shared their stories playing with the historic Bomber franchise and other great stories from their professional careers and life.

You can hear both those interviews here. Enjoy.

https://flinflononline.com/podcasts/nor-man-sportsline

The Norman U-15 Female  Wild are coming off their best weekend of the season which saw them go 3-0.

The weekend kicked off with a 4 to 3 upset win over the first place Brandon Wheat Kings. Thompson's Reese Beavis led the way with a hat-trick and Flin Flon's Bailey Schwartz made 30 saves to cap the victory.

Norman then took it to Parkland winning 8 to 0 on Saturday and 8 to 1 on Sunday.

Flin Flon's Mila Playford led the way with 3 goals in the two games with Hailey Biberdorf, Samatha Dallas, Emma Long and Ellis Pearson all finding the back of the net.

Norman will improve to 7-11 on the year and don't play again til January the 14th when they host Brandon.

The Senior Hapnot Queens Basketball Team wrapped up 2022 in style winning the Bill McDonald Invitational this past weekend in the Pas.

The Queens had to come from behind to beat MBCI out of the Pas 45 to 40 in the final to start the year 3-0.

The Creighton girls also had a good weekend as they took the Bronze beating RD Parker out of Thompson 46 to 28.

On the Boy's side,  the Hapnot Kings won Bronze with a 59 to 45 win against MBCI out of the Pas. The Creighton Boys won the B-Side.

What a way to wrap up 2022 for the Flin Flon Bombers.

The Bombers called it a year with a sweep of their arch rivals  the Laronge Ice Wolves,  including an exciting 3 to 2 win in the shootout on Saturday. 

Flin Flon came into Saturday's game with lots of momentum after winning on home ice 5 to 1 on Friday. I thought their second period effort on Friday was their best of the season so far and that carried into Saturday's game.

On Saturday, the Bombers spotted the Wolves the first goal when Dylan Handel got behind the Bombers defense and went in alone to beat Harmon Laser Hume to give Laronge a 1 to 0 lead after 1.

Cole Duperreault would tie the game with his team leading 23rd of the year when he jumped on a Reece Richmond rebound, just over a minute into the second.

The game remained tied,  til the red hot Bomber powerplay gave the Maroon and White Express the lead when Jeremy Tremblay fired a beautiful wrist shot over Dawson Smith's right shoulder.

It looked like that might be enough, but the Wolves tied the game late with a powerplay goal of their own and the goalie pulled to go 6 on 4.

Kaycee Coyle fired a one timer through Laser Hume's legs to tie it at 2 with less than 3 minutes remaining in regulation.

The rest of regulation and OT couldn't decide it , so we needed the shootout.

Both goalies stood on their heads and it looked like the shootout might never end. The two squads had gone through half the  bench before the Bombers Corey King would fire a puck off the post into the tenth round to finally  win it.

That sent the team into jubilation and the monster celebration on the ice.

Talk about a great way to end 2022, with a four point weekend and their 20th win of the season.

Harmon Laser Hume stood tall in both games ,  including 24 saves in Saturday's win and seems to have his confidence back.

Flin Flon is able to gain some room on Laronge for first in the Division plus second overall and improve to 20-7-2-1 and are just 2 points back with 4 games in hand.

The Bombers along with the rest of the league will go on their Christmas break and won't return to action til January the 3rd.

Flin Flon will once again be off to Laronge with a chance to take back first place in the Sherwood Division.

I just want to take the time to wish all Bomber fans, billets, volunteers and everybody affiliated with the organization a Vey Merry Chistmas and all the best in 2023.

It has been a realatively quiet December for the Flin Flon Bombers, who have only played two games so far this month.

They will get back on the ice this weekend as they close out 2022 with a home and home against the Laronge Ice Wolves.

They have omly seen the Wolves once this season,  and that was back on September the 23rd when Laronge came to town and won in the shoot out 2 to 1.

Laronge is playing some great hockey and lead the Bombers by 5 points for the division lead and second overall coming into tonight. Flin Flon does have 4 games in hand.

The Wolves are also 7-2-1 in their last 10 and have already picked up two road wins in Nipawin and Humboldt earlier this week.

Flin Flon has sputtered tha last few games and are 5-4-1 in their last 10. The Bombers did pick up a big win at home against Yorkton last Friday and will have to be at their best this weekend.

Secondary offense seems to be a bit of a problem and they have to find a way to score more goals 5 on 5. Flin Flon still has the league's best power play at 28.7 % but feel that they depend on their PP too much.

It will get a good test this weekend as Laronge has the best PK at 87 %.

Laronge has always been a scrappy tough team to play against but are also scoring more goals this year.

They have found the back of the net 112 times in 32 games which has them ranked third overall.

The Wolves are led offensively by veterans Ethan Strik and Walker Jerome who have 61 points combined.

Flin Flon has three of their scorers in the top 10 with Cole Duperreault leading the way with 38 points including 21 goals.

Jaeden Mercier has 36 points and Jeremi Tremblay who has been on a real tear comes into the weekend with 33 points including 15 goals.

Goaltending always is a factor,  and the Wolves once again have two capable starters.

Dawson Smith is having an incredible year and comes into tonight with a 15-5-1 record with a 2.30 GAA and a save % of .936. The Wolves can afford to give him a night off once in a while because their back up is pretty good too.

New comer Topher Chirico is 6-4-1 with a 3.17 GAA and a save % of .919.

The Bombers have been relying on the play of Kenny Marquart lately who is 5-1 and has a very good save % of .931. Marquart has won the Bombers last two games and was the first star in both victories.

Harmon Laser Hume carried the team for most of the season and is looking to refind his game and still has good numbers at 13-6-2-1 with a GAA of 2.52 and a save % of .916.

Don't forget to catch both games this weekend on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com. We hit the air waves both nights with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:10 and puck drop at 7:30.

The Town Of Creighton is partnering with the Flin Flon Ski Club to give you and your family the ultimate opportunity this Christmas season.

These two great organizations will be offering free equipment rentals and trail fees.

All you have to do is contact Dennis Whitbread by text or call at 204-271-4522 and he will make the arrangements for you.

The equipment will be available on a first come first serve basis.

It is a great chance to come out and enjoy the facility with some of the best ski trails right across North America.

Flin Flon Minor Hockey will be taking their Christmas break starting on Thursday December the 22nd.

They are planning on having some development slots through out the Christmas break,  so keep an eye on their facebook page for dates and times.

House League will resume on January the 9th and don't forget the first big tournament will take place for the U-11's on Jan the 6th to the 8th.

Schedule will be released soon.

A big weekend is coming up for high school basketball , as teams from all over Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan will be heading to the Pas for the Bill McDonald Classic.

Hapnot and Creighton will be well represented as they are sending both boy's and girl's teams.

The Creighton Girls will kick off the tournament on Friday at 1 against Moose Lake. Hapnot will play OCN also at 1.

The Creighton Boys will play MBCI out of the Pas on Friday at 1. Hapnot's first game is against Hudson Bay.

Round robin will continue through out Friday with the playoffs to start on Saturday.

The Boys Final will go at 3 on Saturday followed by the Girls Final at 5.

Congratulations to four players of the PBCN Selects who have been chosen to play in the Keystone Junior Hockey League's  All Star Game.

The four players chosen are:

Forward Dwayne Mckenzie who has 33 points including 16 goals

Forward Leon Natomagen who has 31 points including 15 goals

Goaltender Braxton Constant Kuba who is 5-5 with a .875 save %, which ranks first in the league.

Defenseman Evan Madarash who has 8 points in 15 games.

The All Star Game will be played at Brandon's Westman Centre on January the 28th.

The Creighton Kodiaks senior girls’ team kicked off their season this past weekend in Norquay, Saskatchewan.

 They won their 1st game against the Kamsack Spartans 61-45. They narrowly missed the A-side final by one point when they lost 45 to 44 against Rocanville Ra Ra Avis.

 They won the third place game against Sacred Heart, a 4A team from Yorkton, by a score of 48-26. 

 Both Senior boys and girls Kodiaks teams are off to The Pas this weekend to compete in the Bill McDonald Memorial Basketball Tournament. 

The U11 Bombers were in Prince Albert and  kicked off  the weekend with a 6-2 win over the Warman Lynx. Cache Bentley lead the way with two goals while Eli Chrisp earned the win.

The Bombers followed that up with an impressive 8 to 2 win over the Saskatoon stealth. Cohen Banting recorded a hat trick and was awared the player of the game.

The Bombers continued their winning ways with a convincing 13 to 0 win over Prince Albert. Eli Chrisp earned the shutout and every line contributed in the goal scoring.

The Bombers lost a tough one in the A side final versus the Blackstrap Battalions 4-1 yesterday afternoon. It was a successful weekend for the team finishing in second place and now prepare to host the Jason Moran Memorial U11 tournament in January.

The U-13 Kinsmen Bombers also had a very successful tournament in Brandon.

The Bombers beat Steinbach and  Brandon before dropping a one goal decision to McDonald to round out the round robin.

They then beat ST.Estuache in the playoff round before beating the Brandon Scission Oilers 11 to 1 to capture the B-Side.

The PBCN Selects came out of the gate flying and scored four quick goals enroute to a big 6 to 2 win against their arch rivals, the OCN Storm.

The Selects scored four goals on their first 7 shots and never looked back. 

Dwayne McKenzie led the way with a pair of goals with Freddie Ledoux and new comer Dominic Suhr also finding the back of the net.

In the second period, the Selects kept up the pressure and scored two more from Owen Angoo tealik and Suhr potted his second of the game.

The Selects took a 6 to 0 lead into the third before the Storm would get on the board courtesy of Domi Leask and Chavez Constant.

Odin Church made his PBCN debut in goal and looked very sharp in stopping 27 out of 29 shots.

This was a big win for the Selects who leap frog Norway House to take over fourth place at 7-7-0-3.

PBCN will close out 2022 with a pair of games against the NCN Flames who make their way to the Whitney Forum for a pair of games this weekend.

It wasn't pretty, but the Flin Flon Bombers found a way to get an important two points on Friday night.

The Yorkton Terriers were back in town and had beaten the Bombers in their last two meetings.

Yorkton played another good game against Flin Flon but the goaltending heroics of Kenny Marquart were the difference. Marquart stopped 33 shots to pick up his 5th win of the year as the Bombers won 3 to 1.

The Bomber goals came from Jeremi Tremblay who opened up the scoring with his 15th of the year. Tremblay jumped on a bad bounce in the Terrier's zone to give his team the much needed first goal.

Yorkton would tie it on the powerplay when Logan Cyca would get credit for a goal that deflected off Alex Von Sprecken into his own net.

Marquart held the fort the rest of the way and Flin Flon got insurance goals from veterans Cole Duperreault and Matt Egan.

Yorkton Goalie Caleb Allen also played well stopping 35 out of 38.

A big two points for the Bombers who improve to 18-7-2-1 and are just 1 point behind Laronge for the division lead with two games in hand.

These two teams will finally meet in a home and home this weekend to close out 2022.

Friday's game will be played at the Whitney Forum and the rematch in Laronge on Saturday. You can catch both broadcasts here on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

The Creighton Kodiak Boys are off to Hudson Bay to kick off their basketball season starting tomorrow.

Creighton will play their first game against the host team from Hudson Bay at 9. they will also play Tisdale at noon and Kamsack at 3.

We will have updates through out the weekend on 102.9 CFAR.

The Flin Flon Bombers are coming off a 5 day break and are ready to jump back on the ice tonight.

Flin Flon split their last 2 games on the road last weekend winning 5 to 2 in Melville Friday,  and followed that up with a 5 to 2 loss in  Yorkton on Saturday.

The Bombers will get a chance to exact revenge tonight,  as luck would have it, Yorkton makes their way up North tonight.

The Terriers have just 3 wins in their last 10 games and two of those wins have come at the expense of the Bombers.

For what ever reason,  Flin Flon struggles to score goals against Yorkton and also dropped their last meeting at the Whitney Forum 3 to 1 back on November the 11th.

Yorkton comes to town after a tough 8 to 2 loss in Nipawin back on Tuesday night and continue to battle for the final playoff spot.

Entering tonight's game, Yorkton trails Notre Dame for the final playoff spot by 4 points, and the Hounds have 1 game in hand. 

The Bombers continue to battle with Laronge, Humboldt and Estevan for second overall. Flin Flon is third overall with 37 points, trailing Laronge by 2 points with 2 games in hand.

Estevan is now just 1 point behind Flin Flon with the Humboldt Broncos 2 back of the Bombers.

So tonight's game is huge. Flin Flon would also like to get some momentum before they close out 2022 with a home and home against Laronge next weekend.

The Bombers are led offensively by the big 4, including Cole Duperreault who leads the team with 20 goals. Jaeden Mercier, Jeremi Tremblay and Jaxon Martens have combined for 131 points.

It was nice to see Dawson Karol pick up his first two goals of the season last weekend and we will see who steps up tonight.

No broadcast on radio, but we will be good to go on Hockey TV tonight and will have both next weekends  games against Laronge on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

Good luck to the U-13 Kinsmen Bombers who are off to Brandon for one of the biggest Minor Hockey Tournaments of the year.

14 teams from right across Manitoba will be taking part in this tournament.

Flin Flon will play three round robin games against Steinbach on Friday at 7. They will play two games on Saturday against the Glacier Car Wash Avalanche at 1 and MacDonald at 5:30.

Playoffs start Sunday at 8 am with the A-side Final 3:30.

The Norman Wild U-15 Female hockey team will be back in Flin Flon to face the Yellowhead Chiefs in a pair of games  this weekend at the Whitney Forum.

The games will take place this Saturday at 7 and Sunday at noon.

Norman is 4-13 on the season and there are 7 girls from Flin Flon on the team.

They include Bailey Schwartz, Samantha Dallas, Mila Playford, Hailey Biberdorf, Ellis Pearson, Emma Long and Joslyn Tetlock.

The Norman Regional Minor Hockey Association is looking for coaches for their  regional 2022-2023 teams.

They need coach's for Norman U-15 Director's Cup, Norman U-13 Rising Stars and Norman U-13 Female Future Prospects.

If you are interested, you can click on the various links on flinflonminorhockey.com.

Congratulations are also in order for Flin Flon's Rogan Hlady who just received a Regional Award for refereeing from Hockey Manitoba.

Rogan was chosen the Most Promising Official for the Norman Region and he is 15 years old and is a level 2 Official.

The Peds Threads U11 Flin Flon Bombers are off to Prince Albert this coming weekend for their second tournament of the season.

The team will play four round robin games over the weekend and playoffs to be played on Sunday with the top two teams in each pool advancing.

The Bombers will face off against the Warman Lynx, Saskatoon Flyer Stealth, PA Stingers and the La Ronge Ice Wolves.

Flin Flon's first game is Friday at 8pm against the Warman Lynx.

A pretty successful weekend for the PBCN Selects as they took both games at home against the Cross Lake Islanders by scores of 7 to 5 and 14 to 2.

Freddy Ledoux continues to have the hot hand as he fired a hat-trick in the win on Saturday and added a goal in Sunday's win to give him 15 so far this season.

Tyler Bird collected 4 goals on Sunday and Jase Martin scored his first four goals of the year as the Selects had no trouble finding the back of the net.

With the two wins, the Selects continue to climb up the standings and are now 6-7-0-3 and sit just one point behind Norway House for fourth spot.

The Selects have won 3 in a row and will be back in action this Sunday when they host the OCN Storm at the Whitney Forum. Game time is 7:30.

PBCN is 1-1-1 against OCN this year.

It will be Teddy Bear Toss night, so don't forget to bring a stuffed animal to the game to  throw on the ice when the Selects score their first goal.

All the stuffed animals will be collected and donated to needy families for Christmas.

The Flin Flon Bombers went 1-1 on their mini road trip to Melville and Yorkton this past weekend.

Kenny Marquart got his fifth start of the season on Friday,  and played very well stopping 46 shots as the Bombers beat Melville for the 5th time this season 5 to 2.

The night was highlighted by Dawson Karol picking up his two first ever SJHL goals. Even more impressive for Karol was his family was in attendance for his best night so far as a Bomber.

Karol's home town is Regina, which is only a couple of hours from Melville.

Flin Flon was hoping to ride the momentum into Yorkton on Saturday but fell short losing 5 to 2.

The Terriers were excited about it being Teddy Bear Toss night and came out flying and jumped out to a 2 to 0 lead on goals by Greg Nelson and Colton Koran.

The Bombers Jacob Vockler fired a beautiful shot over Caleb Allen's left shoulder early in the second to cut the deficit to 2 to 1, but that's as close as the Bombers would get.

Dylan Ruptash would score the next three for his first SJHL hat-trick and the Bombers couldn't recover.

Alexi Sylvestre did score his 11th of the year late in the third to make it more respectable at 5 to 2.

Yorkton has now beaten Flin Flon two straight and they will play again this Friday at the Whitney Forum.

The Bombers see their record fall to 17-7-2-1 and are two points behind Laronge for first in the Sherwood and second overall.

Flin Flon only has three games remaining in 2022 including the rematch against Yorkton this Friday and a home and home against Laronge on December the 16th and 17th.

The 22nd annual Mel Pearson Memorial Novice Hockey Tournament wrapped up yesterday at both the Sportex and Whitney Forum.

Here are yesterdays's results:

Mel Pearson Event- Swan River 7-  Pas Red 4

Jack Turner Event- Thompson Avalanche 9- Reliance Rhinos 7

Cementation Event- Thompson Jets 8- Pas Black 4

Shayne Pearson Event- Thompson Flames 9- Pas White 8

Scott Davidson Event- Steelworkers 13- McKeens 8

Paddy Ginnell Event- Thompson Stars 7- FF Firemen 4

Flin Flon Minor Hockey would like to thank all the time keepers, refs, volunteers and sponsors for their help this past weekend.

What a weekend for both the Hapnot Queens and Kings at Volleyball Provincials in The Pas.

The Queens made history by becoming the first Senior female volleyball team to make it to the Provincial final.

After a very good round robin,  the Queens knocked off one of the top teams in the province, Gabrielle Roy 25 to 21, 25 to 21 to set up the showdown with Major Pratt out of Russell for Provincial Gold.

The Queens did come up a little short losing to Major Pratt  in the final 19 to 25 and 18 to 25 to finish second in the Province.

Congratulations to the coach's and players on a very successful year.

The Kings also played very well in the Pas where they won their pool in the round robin and knocked off Major Pratt in the quarters 25 to 16 and 25 to 21.

After losing to Landmark in the semi's they would play Rosenort in the Bronze medal game.

Rosenort would win the game 25 to 12 and 26 to 24. The Kings end up finishing fourth in the province.

A great season for the entire volleyball program which concluded with Shanti Church, Gianna Watt and Tye Burke being selected as Provincial All Stars.

The Senior Hapnot Kings and Queens are both  in  action at Volleyball Provincials  in the Pas.

Both teams are off to good starts. The Queens are 1-1 after dropping their first game to Gabrielle Roy 22-25 and 20-25. They then beat Green Valley out of Grunthal 25 to 13 and 25 to 4.

They will play two more round robin games on Friday against Virdon at 11 and Rosenort at 3.

The Kings are also 1-1. They beat William Morton out of Gladstone in a thriller, 25 to 27, 25 to 17 and 18 to 16. They then dropped their next game in 3 sets to the top team in the province Rosenort by scores of 13-25, 25-18 and 8-15.

The Kings face Landmark Friday at noon and the host team from MBCI at 3 in their next two round robin games.

Playoffs start Saturday at 9.

102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com will continue to have updates through out the weekend.

The OCN Blizzard have reassigned 04 Forward Mitch Hlady to their Jr B affiliate, PBCN Selects of the KJHL.

In 23 games this season Hlady has scored 4 points for the Blizzard. He has 48 career points for the Pembina Valley Hawks of the Manitoba AAA U18 program.

Hlady will remain in OCN with the Blizzard who currently sit in First place in the MGEU West Division with a record 16-10-0-2, while now being available to join the Selects in the remainder of the season as well as playoffs.

Note: Earlier today to open an Roster Spot The PBCN Selects have traded 04 Drew Peters to the OCN Storm in exchange for PDF.

Peters played one game for the Selects and was sidelined with a concussion.

The Selects thank Drew for his time and wish him the Best with the Storm.

The 22nd annual Mel Pearson Memorial Novice Hockey  Tournament will take place this weekend at both the Sportex and Whitney Forum.

Teams will be taking part from Flin Flon, The Pas, Thompson and Swan River.

Action starts Friday afternoon with the Flin Flon Firemen playing the Pas White at 4pm at the Whitney Forum.

The first game at the Sportex has McKeens Trucking against the Pas Black also at 4 on Friday.

Round robin will continue through out the weekend with the playoff rounds starting Sunday at 9.

Full schedule of games can be seen at flinflonminorhockey.com.

The Creighton Kodiak Football team took care of one more order of buisiness last night with their year end awards at the Creighton Community Hall.

A big thanks to all the parents, volunteers and fans who showed up for one more celebration. Also a big thanks to Chicken Chef for the great meal.

The Kodiaks bid farewell to the Seniors, Marcus Kennedy, Grace Dubikak, Carson Straile, Jaxon Smith , Taylan Woods and Owen Durette.

Last night's award winners are: 

Offensive Rookie of the Year- Aidan Joa-Hall
Defensive Rookie of the Year- Payton Pelletier
Offensive Most Dedicated Player- Jaxon Smith
Defensive Most Dedicated Player- Brayden Eyres
Top Special Teams Player- Grace Dubinak
Leadership Award- Marcus Kennedy
Offensive Player of the Year- Carson Straile
Defensive Player of the Year- Jordan Gorrell
Offensive Warrior of the Year- Marcus Kennedy
Defensive Warrior of the Year- Jordan Gorrell
Most Improved Player- Taylan Woods

Also a big thanks to the coach's Ryan Karakochuk, Ryan Biberdorf, Chad Trumbley and the team manager Mandy Patterson for their dedication and countless hours spent guiding the team.