Flin Flon won the first two games of the season against the La Ronge Ice Wolves. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

Junior Hockey

Ice Wolves begin season with losses against Bombers

Sep 16, 2019 | 4:19 PM

The La Ronge Ice Wolves have begun the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s regular season with back-to-back losses against the Flin Flon Bombers.

The team travelled to Flin Flon on Sept. 13 to mark their first game of the season, as well as Head Coach Kevin Kaminski’s first match with the Ice Wolves after accepting the position last spring. The Ice Wolves lost that match with a 5-2 score and Kaminski stated the Bomber won after capitalizing on the powerplay three times. Forward Kyle Ford made the first goal for the Ice Wolves late in the second period with assists from Zach Bannister and Aidan Morrison, while Morrison made the second goal in the third with assists from Max Kleiner and Kevin Fillier.

“We played timid and we didn’t play our game,” he said. “At times we played OK. We had some good chances and our goalie made some good saves.”

The Ice Wolves home opener Saturday at the Mel Hegland Uniplex also didn’t end with a victory for the team as they lost 4-1 against the Bombers. Ford earned the sole goal halfway through the second period with an assist by Samson Mouland. Kaminski stated he thought it was a good game overall, adding the team played the systems well and did a good job shutting down the Bombers’ lines.

Kaminski was also impressed by number of local fans who attended the home opener. He said close to 700 people paid for a ticket and children got in for free, so nearly 1,000 fans would have been in the stands.

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“I thought the crowd was into it and it was a very entertaining game,” Kaminski said. “Just the wrong team won, that’s all.”

In the next week, the Ice Wolves have four games coming up including two at home with the next being Sept. 17 against the Melfort Millionaires and Sept. 20 against the Nipawin Hawks. Both games have a 7:30 p.m. start time.

“We’re not worried about Melfort,” Kaminski said. “We’re more worried about what we can control and that’s our attitude, work ethic and passion. We’re right on the verge of really playing for 60 minutes the way Ice Wolves hockey is supposed to be played. If we do that, we’ll come away with a victory on Tuesday.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno