.jpg;w=960)
The Bombers will be having some starry nights this month. With the SJHL playoffs set to start this coming weekend and all four opening round series now set, the Bombers will prepare to face the Battlefords North Stars.
A loss by the Stars on the final day of the season locked them into fourth place in the league, with home-ice advantage over the fifth-place Bombers. The two sides have had a back-and-forth battle in their four games against each other this season, tying the season series two-all. The Bombers swept a weekend series against the Stars in early February, winning 4-0 and 6-3 at home, before hitting a rancid stretch and losing on the road twice, 4-2 Feb. 20 and 4-1 in the Bombers’ season finale March 11.
The Bombers have had an up and down season this year. At its peak, the Bombers were in rarefied air, going on long winning and point streaks and being named as one of Canada’s top junior A hockey clubs. The team may be at its lowest point of the year heading into playoffs, having had a rough end to February and an equally tough start of March.
In order to advance, the Bombers need to find ways to fix the ills that plagued their last month. Key to fixing that will be captain Zak Smith, a former Red Deer Rebel who led the team in scoring by forwards. Xavier Lapointe’s point presence on the powerplay will be vital for the Bombers, as will Cole Vardy and good play from defenders like Reece Richmond and Rylan Thiessen. Bomber head coach and general manager Mike Reagan has preached consistency all season long - it’s time to see if that message has been heard.
Up front, the Bombers haven’t yet had a single game this season with a full-strength forward corps - Matt Raymond was injured in preseason and came back, but not before Jaeden Mercier left the lineup. When Mercier came in, top rookie Jeremi Tremblay was hurt. The Bombers will hope to get some injury front luck going into the first series.
The Bombers also boast one of the league's best goalies in Cal Schell, who finished the season leading the league in shutouts and the new holder of the Bombers' SJHL single season shutout record - Schell has blanked the opposition seven times this season.
Their opponents are the Stars, assembled by head coach and general manager Brayden Klimosko and Reagan’s former second-in-command, Garry Childerhose, now in his first year as a Stars assistant coach. Battlefords has seen key contributions from veteran forwards like captain Ryland McNinch and leading scorer Dylan Esau, who had four points in the Stars’ four games against Flin Flon. Both are veterans of the 2020 Stars club that seemed to be on course for a league final had COVID-19 not got in the way.
The Stars have been more volatile in the crease than Klimosko usually sees, with their main starter, ex-Humboldt Bronco Michael Harroch, having sat out the last month of play. Whether or not Harroch plays playoff hockey remains to be seen, but the two ‘tenders left in his stead - 20-year-old Austin Schwab and rookie Lowen Kenyon - will do their best to be up to the task.
