It was a weekend that the long time Coach of the Flin Flon Bombers Mike Reagan will never forget. Not only did the Bombers sweep both games against the Melville Millionaires, but Mike Reagan also picked up his 600th coaching victory on Friday in the 4 to 1 win.
All 600 coaching wins are behind the Bomber bench which began for the home town product in 2007. Reagan was originally brought in to be the Assistant Coach to Doug Stokes, but Stokes resigned just before the start of the 2007-08 season and the organization decided to give the former player a try , and the rest is history.
SJHL League Commissioner Kyle McIntire and Flin Flon Bomber President Tim Babcock made a special presentation to Reagan just prior to puck drop on Saturday to celebrate not only his 600 wins but being behind the bench for over 1000 games.
Friday night the Bombers came out flying with Jack Martin, Maverick Deslilse and Leo Seitz all finding the back of the net for a 3 to 0 lead after one period.
Wesley Olson would get the Mills on the board with a powerplay goal early in the second but Melville couldn’t get any closer with Finn Werner shutting the door the rest of the way. Flin Flon would answer the Olson goal with Wyatt Stinton picking up his 14th of the season, when he deposited a beautiful pass from Rhett Ewen in front of the Melville net to make the final 4 to 1.
There were no goals scored in the third period. Finn Werner was great once again and ended up with 22 saves on 23 shots to improve to 12-1 on the season to go along with a .929 save %.
Matt Spencer Dahl got the start for Melville and played well stopping 47 out of 51 shots .
I thought it took Melville a while to find their legs and they seemed to play better as the night went on and their Coach Doug Johnson vowed his team would be better on Saturday and they were.
Flin Flon did start well again on Saturday and scored the first two goals of the game courtesy of Daniel Morozov( 8) and Maverick Deslilse (16), to go up 2 to 0 after one.
Hudson Binder jumped on a big rebound in front of the Bomber net early in the second to get the Mills on the board. Flin Flon responded and restored the two goal lead when Nathan Lalumiere was able to score when he pounced on a loose puck in the crease for his 5th of the season.
Melville was a different team on Saturday and managed to make it a one goal game once again when defenseman Riley Craigen scored on a nice one timer, with Melville trailing 3 to 2 entering the final period.
Flin Flon got the league’s number one powerplay cooking and Daniel Morozov scored his second of the game and 9th of the season which put the Bombers up 4 to 2.
That looked like it may be enough, but give Melville credit they kept fighting and managed to tie the game with two goals in the final 13 minutes courtesy of Yibin Yoo and Hudson Binder’s second of the night. Binder scored with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.
Binder’s second of the night quieted the Whitney Forum crowd and the home winning streak was all of a sudden in jeopardy as the game would head into Over Time.
The Bombers got a huge break when Melville took a penalty just over two minutes into the extra period when Keil Schmalz got called for high sticking. Once again the league’s best powerplay would get a chance to go to work and try to win the game.
Flin Flon peppered the net but could not get the winner on the powerplay but kept the pressure on when it went back to 3 on 3 and Leo Seitz was left alone in the slot and he scored low glove side on former Bomber netminder Massimo Urbani, as the Bombers avoided a scare and picked up the 5 to 4 OT victory.
Urbani came in the game in the third period to relieve starter Matt Spencer Dahl after he gave up the fourth goal. Urbani wasn’t tested much but stopped all 3 shots he faced in regulation and one of two shots in overtime.
Charlie Tritt started for Flin Flon and he stopped 29 out of 33 shots including 14 of 16 in the third period. Melville poured it on and if these two teams do meet in the playoffs, the Mills made it quite clear they will not be push overs.
Head Coach and GM Mike Reagan commented on his personal milestone from the weekend. “ It is definitely good to get that milestone but I mean it is just one win. The most important thing is we won the hockey game and we are focussed on what we are doing right now and what we are doing this year. It is not about the previous 599 or what ever, at the end of the day we are trying to accomplish something here this year and it just a number. Saying that I grew up being a huge Bomber fan billeting and playing for the Bombers and getting the opportunity to coach your home town team is special. There is no question I am proud of what we have been able to do here, there is a lot of other people here that have contributed to the team’s success and hopefully we can continue to grow the program and get better each and every year.”
You can make it 22 straight wins at home for the Bombers who improve to a league best 36-10-1-1 and now lead the second place Battleford Stars by 5 points with two games in hand. Melville will fall to 21-18-4-4 and if the playoffs were to start today, Melville would be the Bombers first round opponent.
A big weekend coming up for the Maroon and White who will host the Nipawin Hawks at the Whitney Forum on Tuesday before getting ready for a home and home with the defending league Champion Melfort Mustangs this weekend.
Melfort has reeled off 8 straight wins and have not only gotten back in the playoff picture, but find themselves in 6th place overall. All three meetings should be a good test for the Bombers this week with the playoffs only a few weeks away.
