Bombers on the brink of title

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This article was published 13/04/2022 (1563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mike Reagan was born and raised in Flin Flon.

He played four years for the SJHL’s Bombers before heading to the U.S. to play college hockey and returned in 2006 to coach his old team.

All of that makes Flin Flon’s return to the SJHL final a very personal journey for the 43-year-old hockey lifer.

Now, he’s trying to guide the franchise to its first league title since 1993. Reagan remembers that championship well. He was a fan in the stands for the final series and has the scar to prove it.

“I was only a kid and we actually billeted Bombers when I grew up, and in ‘92-93, Game 6 of the final, I took a puck to the head and it cut me open for 14 stitches during that game,” said Reagan by phone Wednesday. “So, I definitely was associated with that run for sure.”

The Bombers beat the Melville Millionaires that night, forcing a deciding Game 7, which they won.

Putting the club into position to win its second title in team history — Reagan took the club to final appearances in both 2016 and 2017 — has been a little unconventional.

The club went into a funk late in the regular season, winning only three of its last 12 games and dropped from third to fifth place in the SJHL’s overall standings.

The Bombers then went down 2-0 to the Battlefords North Stars in the best-of-seven quarter-finals before abruptly winning eight of their next nine games to reach the Canalta Cup final.

Flin Flon clinched a 4-1 semifinal series win over Humboldt, courtesy of Tuesday’s 1-0 win in Game 5 over the Broncos.

“There was little bit of adversity,” said defenceman Rylan Thiessen, 20, who joined the Bombers in November after starting the season with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos. “We were outshooting teams by 10 to 20 shots in the majority of the games and still losing one-goal games and stuff just wasn’t really going our way.

“We had to find a way to get out of the slump and I think just kept working, even when we’re going through that. Obviously losing the first two games of playoffs and winning seven straight after that speaks a lot (for us).”

Game 1 of the league final is slated for Estevan on April 22 but with the Bruins already with a berth in the Centennial Cup as the host team, the Bombers have already punched their ticket for the national championship, which opens May 19.

The Bombers plan to reach their goal with nine Manitoba-born players on the roster.

“Obviously it’s a pretty exciting thing,” said Thiessen, a Brandon product. “Mike Reagan gets a chance for the national championship and goes to the (SJHL) finals. The emotion we showed (in Humboldt) was pretty awesome and the guys are pretty excited. It’s a huge honour for sure.”

The success of the town’s beloved hockey team comes just as HudBay Minerals — Flin Flon’s largest employer — has announced it will shut down its local zinc plant and mine this summer.

“It’s very special to me personally but for the community it’s just huge,” said Reagan. “With the negativity about the mine shutting its operations down here and everything like that and a lot of question marks about what this town’s gonna look like in the future, it’s great to have some something positive for people to rally around.

“We’ve got amazing fans and passionate fans. It’s special for everybody.”

Thiessen has been a big spark for his team, scoring 26 points in 33 regular-season games and 10 points in 11 post-season outings. He said the atmosphere at Flin Flon’s tiny Whitney Forum, which seats 1,600 fans and has room for about 400 more to stand, is unmatched.

“I’ve honestly never seen a crowd like here,” said Thiessen. “Even after playing in the WHL this is still the best crowd I’ve ever played in front of.”

Flin Flon fans and players have a tight connection.

“It’s just the passion of the fans here,” said Thiessen. “They just cheer you on. They know you personally. You walk around downtown and someone you’ve never seen in your life will know your name and call you by your nickname.

“You’re just so known in the community and that’s why they bring so much passion to the to the rink every night. They love to see the Bombers win.”

Reagan said supportive fans helped to get his players untracked in the first round of the playoffs.

“It was our fans that gave us that extra juice,” said Reagan, in his ninth year as both coach and GM. “There’s no place like it as far as atmospheres go in Junior A hockey. They’re huge and the passion that they have and how loud they are — there’s times where you can’t hear yourself think — is very uplifting for our players.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14