The La Ronge Ice Wolves Junior A Hockey Club and JRMCC Sports & Recreation are pleased to?announce that the team’s board, Northern Lights Hockey Developments Inc., has unanimously?approved the team’s relocation to the JRMCC Arena. Northern Lights Hockey Development will continue to own and manage the team.

The team will relocate from the Mel Hegland Uniplex at the end of the season. Meanwhile?JRMCC Sports & Recreation will begin facility renovations and capital purchases in preparation?for the start of the 2025-2026 season, including a new dressing room, coach’s offices, player?bench expansion and a new hanging score clock.

“This relocation is all about ensuring the future viability of our local junior franchise,” said Team President Grant Merriman. “The La Ronge Ice Wolves must play in a more modern facility; we believe this move will strengthen our sponsorship, improve attendance, increase season and game-day ticket sales and help with player recruitment.”

The Ice Wolves are a community-owned Junior “A” team based out of the Tri-Community of La?Ronge, Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. They are the two-time league champions?and play out of the Sherwood Division in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

It is the weekend that everyone has been waiting for as the top two clubs in the SJHL will meet in a home and home this weekend.

The Flin Flon Bombers get ready to hit the road as they will travel to Melfort tonight and return the favour tomorrow.

The Mustangs continue to lead the standings at 40-7-1 good for 81 points while the Bombers remain second at 34-11-3-1 for 72 points. Melfort has only lost at home once in regulation  this entire season and are an amazing 20-1-0-1 at the Palace.

That includes three wins against the Bombers with all those games early in the season 6 to 2 on September the 21st, 4 to 1 on October the 12th and 3 to 2 on October the 30th.

It was right after that October the 30th loss that the Bombers took off and managed to go 26 games without a regulation loss and vault right up the standings.

Flin Flon has also beat the Mustangs in all three meetings at the Whitney Forum this year including a 4 to 0 win in their last meeting on February the 1st.

This is a huge weekend for both teams and if the Bombers have any aspirations of finishing first they will need both wins this weekend. The Mustangs could pretty much wrap up first place if they take both games this weekend.

The Bombers also need to try and hold off Weyburn and Yorkton for second with the third place Red Wings 8 points behind Flin Flon and both teams have played 49 games. Yorkton is 9 points behind Flin Flon and have played 50 games.

Flin Flon is also hoping to have Wyatt Stinton and Kyle Marsden back from injury and both will be game time decisions tonight. Kylynn Olafson and Leighton Carruthers remain out indefinitely.

This promises to be a great weekend of hockey between these long time foes and both teams have very similar records heading into the weekend with the Mustangs 8-1-0-1 in their last ten while the Bombers are 7-2-1 in their last ten.

You can catch both games on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com this weekend beginning with tonight's game from the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort.

We hit the air at 7:10 with the SJHL Coach's Show for Great North GM and drop of the puck at 7:30 for Creighton Furniture.

You can take advantage of all the fresh snow ny taking part in the Big Ice/ Koop Ski Challenge at the Flin Flon Ski Club.

You can ski from the Chalet to the west side of the valley,  then up to Korotash hill, head along northeast Carlilse. Then make your way around Carlilse corner, along Longpipe trail and down Logpile Hill. Cross the road again and ski back to the chalet down the Boundary trail and Powderpuff Hill.

Remember you can submit an entry each time you complete the loop for a chance to win some great prizes.

Submit your entries to koopgeo@gmail.com by Saturday March the 1st.

Don't forget about the 50th annual Val and Ivor Hedman  Centaoloppet this Sunday as part of this year's Bust The Winter Blues. Bring your family and friends to take part in this fun event.

Once again it starts with a massed start on the Ski Club Beaver Pond at 2pm, with registration in the Chalet basement between 1 and 1:30. It is free and everyone is welcome.

Lots of great prizes will be handed out and you can call Dave for more info at 204-687-8653 or Dean at 204-923-0315.

Good luck to the U-11 A1 Northland Ford Bombers who are off to provincials in St Claude this weekend.

The Bombers are in a pool with Winkler and Brandon and are coached by Tyler McKinnon and Mike Lukowich.

Flin Flon will hit the ice against Winkler on Friday at 4:30 and then play Brandon at 8:45am  on Saturday.

Playoffs would start Saturday at 2:15  with the Consolation Final at 1pm followed by the Bronze Medal game at 2:45 and the Championship game at 4:45 all on Sunday.

The Norman Minor Hockey Association wants to recognize the accomplishments of some of the female hockey players that got their start in this region.

This month 6 players attended the U18 POE top 68 with Hockey Manitoba.

The players included Ellis Pearson from Flin Flon -  Interlake Lightning U-18AAA, Joslyn Tetlock Flin Flon- Interlake Lightning U-18 AAA, Bailey Schwartz Flin Flon RHA Winnipeg, Attica Sobering Thompson RHA Winnipeg, Reese Beavis Thompson- Eastman Selects U-18 AAA and McKenna Steeves Thompson Pembina Valley Hawks U-18 AAA.

The Norman Female  U-15 AAA Wild wrapped up their season with a 3 to2  win over the Interlake Lightning.

Flin Flon's own Janae Neaufeld scored the game winning goal and Flin Flon's Zoey Phair Boucher was between the pipe and made an amazing  56 saves and helped lead the Wild to the victory.

The Norman Wild will head to the playoffs starting this weekend February the 28th against the Pembina Valley Hawks. It will be a best of three.

Good luck as well to the Northland Ford U-11A1 Bombers who are off to provincials in St Claude. Their first game is this Friday against Winkler.

The High School basketball season is winding down and both the Hapnot Senior Kings and Queens hit the road for Zones this weekend.

The Queens are off to MBCI in The Pas and will play their first game against The Pas Thursday at 5.

The Queens will play two games on Friday against OCN at 11:30 and Norway House at 5:30. They will play their final round robin game against Cranberry on Saturday at noon.

The final will be played Saturday at 4.

The Senior Hapnot Kings are off to Cranberry and play their first game against the home team on Thursday at 6pm.

The Kings will play two games on Friday against Norway House at 4:30 and MBCI out of the Pas at 8pm. Their final round robin game is Saturday at 11:30 am against Cross Lake.

The final will be played at 2:30.

It is going to be a big weekend in Flin Flon with 7 teams getting a chance to compete for a provincial hockey  title.

U-11 A Minor Hockey Provincials will take place as Flin Flon will get a chance to host a Provincial Championship for the first time in over 10 years.

The Peds Threads Bombers are the host team and will be joined by teams coming in from Dauphin, Virdon, The Pas, Swan Valley, Portage and Neepawa.

All the games will take place at the Whitney Forum and games will start on Friday.

The Peds Threads Bombers will kick off the tournament this Friday against Dauphin at 2pm. Round robin will continue through Friday and Saturday with the playoffs starting Sunday at 9am.

The Championship Final is at 4:45pm. Full schedule will be posted on the Flin Flon Minor Hockey facebook page.

The Flin Flon Bombers return home after splitting a pair of games on the road this weekend in Yorkton and Melville.

After a slow start in Yorkton on Friday, the Bombers got things going in the second period and were able to rally for four straight goals after falling behind 1 to 0.

It was a Ryder Ringor short handed goal that turned things around for the Bombers early in the second period. Flin Flon continues to have the best PK in the league and scored their league leading 15th short handed goal.

The Bombers caught fire and got more offense from Koen Senft (12), Joey Lies (5) and Anthony Piccininno who scored his 14th into the empty net to make the final 4 to 1 for Flin Flon.

Matthew Kieper picked up his 20th win of the year for the Bombers and was razor sharp making 22 saves on 23 shots.

Carter Briltz had the lone goal for the Terriers scoring his 9th of the season on the powerplay.

Flin Flon made their way to Melville to face the Millionaires on Saturday and took on a club that had won 8 straight. Their last loss came against the Bombers on January the 21st when Flin Flon went into Melville and blanked them 3 to 0.

This was definitely  a different Melville team who got into the Bombers face all night and kept a lot of shots to the outside and finally found a way to beat Flin Flon 3 to 1.

The Bombers had beat the Mills in the three previous meetings holding them to just one goal in those games.

Simon Parini led the way for Melville with a pair of goals including the game winner early in the second period and Raine Hodge would add his 4th on the powerplay for a little insurance as the Mills beat Flin Flon 3 to 1.

Flin Flon could only get one puck past Melville goalie Ben Laurette who was very good making 32 saves on 33 shots. The only shot to beat him was a Cole Tanchuk wrister off the face off late in the first period.

Kenny Marquart started the game for Flin Flon and gave up 3 goals on 16 shots to suffer the loss.

The Bomber record now sits at 34-11-3-1 and they continue to sit second, 9 points behind the front running Melfort Mustangs.

More importantly the Bombers continue to hold off Yorkton and Weyburn for second and are 9 points up on the Terriers and 10 points in front of Weyburn.

Flin Flon will get a great test this weekend as they will play the front running Melfort Mustangs in a home and home Friday and Saturday. If the Bombers have any hope of catching the Stangs for first they will need the weekend sweep.

The season series is 3-3 with both teams winning all their games at home. Flin Flon will head to Melfort on Friday and host the Stangs on Saturday.

Both games will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

The Pas  Huskies were one of 6 teams that had a chance to compete for a Provincial Hockey Championship this past weekend in Thompson in the U-15 B Division.

The Pas Huskies are  a team comprised of both players from The Pas and Flin Flon and are coached by Greg Kritzer.

The Huskies went 1-1 in the round robin with a 5 to 2 loss to Killarney and a 5 to 2  win over Beausejour.

That would put the Pas in the Semi's against Boissevain and they lost a heart breaker 3 to 2 in OT.

The Huskies would qualify for the Bronze and lost to the home team from Thompson 2 to 0.

Killarney ended up winning the Gold Medal by beating Boissevain 2 to 1 in the final.

Beausejour took the Consolation with a 3 to 2 OT win over Norway House.

 It was a very cold week for the Big Ice Koop Ski Challenge but despite the weather they  had a new record number of  18 people come out and try the trails.

 Their  km goal of skiing this week was  The Pas to Swan River for  229km, and this weeks skier's came very close at a  combined 218 Km .

Draw 1 winner is Jamie Schmidt, who also had the most Km skied this week of 62 km.

(He wins a $25 gift certificate from Orange Toad)

Draw 2 winner is for the under 15 category, congratulations to  Macie White 

( $20 gift certificate from Chicken Chef)

You can pick your prizes up at the Ski Club Chalet on Monday and Tuesday 4pm-5pm

and Saturday 1pm-4pm from Dennis.

The new map for the challenge for Week 4 will be posted on the Flin Flon Ski Club Facebook page.

Remember, if you get a newbie to ski any trail they automatically win a prize. Just send in their name. There has been  no newbies the last few weeks.

The ski club has rentals and call Dennis at 204-271-4522

Please send all entries or questions to koopgeo@gmail.com 

The  mileage goal this week is to ski from Swan River to Minnedosa which is 288 Km. With the warmer weather, hopefully there will be a lot of people hitting the trails.

A Mixed Bonspiel took place at the Uptown Curling Club this past weekend with 6 rinks taking part.

The First Event saw Dave Salahub defeat Theresa  MacPhee in the final.

Kristina Lies won the second event by beating Paul Harrison, and it was Sarah Lynn Koop taking the third event against Don Rose.

The Uptown Curling Club will now get ready for their biggest weekend of the year with both the Men's and Ladies Bonspiels coming up on the weekend of March the 14th to the 16th.

The entry fee will be $180.00 per team and the deadline to sign up is March the 10th.

To sign up for the Men's contact Lyle Kennedy at 204-687-3275 and for the Ladies you can contact Terry at 204-271- 3247 or Theresa at 204-509- 2201.

U-15 B Hockey Provincials will take place in Thompson this weekend with 6 teams taking part.

The teams will be represented from Thompson, Norway House, Boissevain, Killarney, Beausejour and the Pas Huskies.

The Pas team is coached by Greg Kritzer and has four players from Flin Flon including Devin Thurston, Liam Boiteau, Hayden Biberdorf and Cohen Brough.

Games will start this Friday with Norway House playing Thompson to kick off the tournament at 1pm. The Pas will then face Killarney at 2:45.

Round robin will continue through Saturday morning with the playoffs starting at 2:45.

Sunday the Consolation Final will be played at 9am followed by the Bronze Medal game and Championship final at 10:30.

The Norman Northstars have only two games remaining this season in the Manitoba U-18 AAA Hockey League.

It has been a very trying season with the Northstars sitting 11th out of the 13 team league at 13-30-3-1 and will not qualify for this year's playoffs.

It has been a disappointing year after the Northstars came so close to making the post season last year,  and only missed the playoffs by a single point.

Norman has struggled down the stretch going 3-13 in the new year and will try to end the season on a positive note when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings this weekend at the C.A.Nesbitt Arena.

Games are this Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 1:30. Brandon is first overall at 37-5-1-2-2.

The Flin Flon Bombers remain one of the hottest teams in junior hockey with different players that continue to step up every game.

The Bombers swept the Notre Dame Hounds on the weekend and got contributions from pretty much everybody.

Two players that were recognized for their play were second year forward Koen Senft and local product Ryder Mucha.

Senft was chosen the Canterra Seeds Saskatchewan Player Of The Week for his 4 points on the weekend with one goal and three assists. So far this season he has 40 points in 43 games including 11 goals and 29 assists.

Local product Ryder Mucha was selected as the IKS Media Rookie Of The Week for his 3 point weekend with one goal and two assists. Mucha has developed into one of the top rookies in the league this year and has put up 19 points in 41 games including 5 goals.

The Bombers will hit the road this weekend for a couple of games against playoff teams including the Yorkton Terriers on Friday who have taken over third overall and are 8-2 in their last ten.

Saturday Flin Flon faces another red hot team in Melville who have won 9 of their last 10. Both games will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 6:40 and drop of the puck at 7pm for Creighton Furniture.

Once again, despite the cold it was another successful week for the Big Ice Koop Ski Challenge.There were  a number of brave women and men who got out skiing and  were able to smash the  km goal of skiing from Cranberry to The Pas which is 92km, but this weeks skiers skied a combined 156 Km. 

Draw 1 winner is Rick Hall, who also had the most Km skied this week of 61 km.

($25 gift certificate from Super K)

Draw 2 winner is for the under 15 category, is Michael Dumenko 

( $25 gift certificate from Wild North)

You can pick your prizes up at the Ski Club Chalet on Monday and Tuesday 4pm-5pm

and Saturday 1pm-4pm from Dennis.

The new map for the challenge for Week three has been  posted on the Flin Flon Ski Club Facebook page.

If you are looking to rent skis you can  call Dennis at 204-271-4522

Please send all entries or questions to koopgeo@gmail.com 

The  mileage goal this week is to ski from The Pas to Swan River which is 229 Km.

The Flin Flon Bombers continue to roll and continue to dominate the competition after another 4 points at the Whitney Forum this past weekend.

The Notre Dame Hounds came to town and found themselves on the wrong scores of 5 to 1 and 4 to 1 Friday and Saturday.

Anthony Piccininno led the way with a pair of goals on Friday his 11th and 12th including a short handed goal to give the Bombers their 13th as a team this season.

Keefe Gruener added his 29th, Ryder Mucha his 5th  and Koen Senft his 11th.

Maclean Cooney would score his first for Notre Dame and  that was the only puck to make it past Kenny Marquart who ended up with 18 saves and picked up his 10th win.

Flin Flon scored 41 of 46 on Spencer Borsos who played his usual steady self.

On Saturday the Bombers kept coming and their top scorer Keefe Gruner picked up his league leading 30th of the year,  when he beat youngster Kaden Perron early in the first period. Perron played exceptional for just his fourth start of the year and ended up with 47 saves.

The Bombers would get plenty of insurance from Carter Cormier who found the back of the net for his 19th and 20th, with Pierce Yakimchuk adding his 3rd.

It looked like Matthew Kieper would pick up his fourth shutout of the season, but former Bomber Evan Bossel grabbed a loose puck off a Bomber's stick and fired home his 8th of the year with less than two minutes remaining to spoil the shutout.

Kieper continues to be a league MVP candidate and is now 19-0-1-1 with a lights out save %of .944.

After the weekend Flin Flon will improve to 33-10-3-1 and continue to lead Weyburn by 10 points for second overall. The Wings do have a game in hand.

Notre Dame also lost in Nipawin 5 to 2 on Sunday and have now lost 11 in a row and are dead last in the standings at 11-31-2-2.

This weekend should be a good test for Flin Flon who will make their way to Yorkton and Melville, two playoff teams that are playing some good hockey.

Yorkton is 7-3 in their last ten and are fourth overall just one point behind the third place Weyburn Red Wings and both teams have played 46 games.

The Terriers have also beaten the Bombers in 2 of the 3 meetings this year and have been able to fight through a lot of adversity to prove that they are a top 4 team.

Melville just might be the hottest team in the league right now and are 9-1 in their last 10. They have vaulted right up the standings and have moved to within 6 points of Yorkton for fourth.

We will broadcast both games on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com this weekend with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 6:40 and drop of the puck both nights at 7pm for Creighton Furniture.

The 55th annual Munn Cup wrapped up yesterday in Thompson with both the Northland Ford Bombers and Peds Threads Bombers seeing action.

The Peds Threads Bombers went 0-1-2 in the round robin in the A Division,  with a 2-2 draw with the Pas and losses to Thompson and Swan River.

That would put the Peds Threads Bombers in the Lamontagne Cup Final against the Pas and they won a thriller in the shoot-out 4 to 3.

Reagan McPherson, Axel Johnston-Stener and Blaise Brough scored the goals in regulation. Shea Dorian would score the winner in a shoot-out in the fifth round.

The Northland Ford Bombers went 2-1 in the A-1 Division with wins over Cross Lake and Norway House. Their one blemish came against Thompson.

They would play Thompson once again for  the Crocket Cup and they ended up losing 7 to 2 and finished second.

Flin Flon will now get ready to host the U-11 A Provincials February the 28th to March the 2nd,  with the Peds Threads Bombers being the host team.

Flin Flon will kick off the tournament against Dauphin at 2pm on Friday February the 28th at the Whitney Forum.

Full schedule can be seen at flinflonminorhockey.com.

After a 5 day break the Flin Flon Bombers will host the Notre Dame Hounds in a pair of games this weekend at the Whitney Forum.

Flin Flon was able to rebound after a tough loss against Nipawin on February the 4th with back to back wins over Estevan last weekend.

The Bombers are flying high with a record of 31-10-3-1 and are one of only two teams in the league to officially clinch a playoff spot. The sit second overall, 8 points behind Melfort who beat Weyburn last night.

Flin Flon has an 8 point lead on the Wings for second overall. Notre Dame has had another tough year and sit with a record of 11-28-2-2 and are tied with Nipawin for 11th overall.

The Hounds who are usually stingy on defense have given up 177 goals in 43 games which is second worst in the entire league,  with only Nipawin giving up more. They also struggle to score with 116 goals for which has them ranked third from the bottom.

The Bombers have scored the second most amount of goals in the league with 172, only Weyburn scores more and have given up the second least amount with 104 in 45 games.

This will be the first chance for Bomber fans to see Evan Bossel and Wylie Smith who were dealt to the Hounds on January the 10th for stud d-man Liam Hunks.

Hunks has returned to Notre Dame since the trade, suiting up for the Bombers  in a 7 to 1 win  on January the 25th.

The Whitney Forum hasn't been to kind to the Hounds of late with Notre Dame only winning one game in Northern Manitoba in the last 5 years, but we all know anything can happen in the SJHL.

It was the Nipawin Hawks who ended the Bombers unbeaten streak at 26 games a week ago Tuesday. Flin Flon had beaten Nipawin in 17 straight so you never know.

Puck drop both nights is at 7:30 and we will broadcast Saturday's game on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:10.

The Norman Female  AAA Wild will be back in action this weekend at the Creighton Sportex.

They will host the Eastman Selects on Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 1:30.

Eastman is one of the top teams in the league at 17-3 while Norman is still searching for their first win of the season.

Admission will be $5.00 and a great chance to come out and support girls from right  across the North including Janae Neaufeld and  Zoey Boucher Phair from Flin Flon and Lennex Gagnon from Snow Lake.

The Flin Flon Bombers are partnering up with the U-13 Kinsmen Bombers for a fun night of competition on Tuesday February the 18th at the Whitney Forum.

The first 100 fans will be entered for to win a $50.00 Bomber gift certificate..

The competition will include fastest skater, most acurate shot, fastest shot and much more. There will be a autograph session right after the competition along with a dressing room tour.

It will be a great night of hockey open to the entire community  with doors opening up at 7 and a gate fee of $5.00.

Kids under 5 will get in free.

The Flin Flon Ski Club will be hosting the 2025 Cross Country Saskatchewan Ski Championships on March the 8th and 9th.

They are expecting between 50 to 100 skiers , families and coach's from all over Saskatchewan .

Besides all the athletes coming in from Saskatchewan, Flin Flon will be well represented with their own team with skiers taking part from all different age groups.

The Flin Flon Ski Club features some of the most beautiful ,  unique and well groomed trails in North America and have hosted many provincial and national events in the past.

Not only will you be able to come out and watch the events, they will also be posting events on the website as they happen.

The Flin Flon Ski Club will also be working with local business's on helping to promote the community of Flin Flon and the surrounding areas during the event.

More information will be posted on the Flin Flon Ski Club website at flinflonskiclub.com and you can also contact Dean Grove at 204-923-0315 or 204-687-8307.

The Brooks Bandits of the BCHL have signed Nipawin Hawk defenseman and former Flin Flon Bomber Connor Ryan.

Since the trade with Flin Flon earlier this season,  Ryan has been able to put up 18 points including 6 goals in 36 games for the Hawks.

Connor suited up in 24 games for the Bombers between 2023-24 and put up 6 points and he also collected two points in 4 playoff games in 2023-24.

The 19 year old defenseman is expected to join his new team later this week and be in the lineup on Friday when Brooks faces the Cranbrook Bucks.

Congratulations to the Flin Flon Bombers Joey Lies who has been chosen the RBC Community Ambassador Award winner  for the second straight season.

Players are chosen from all 12 SJHL teams and fans will be able to vote online for the RBC Community Ambassador of their choice , to be honoured as the recipient of the RBC Community Award at the end of the SJHL regular season.

Joey’s $1,000 donation from RBC will go to Ruth Betts School where he actually attended while he was growing up in Flin Flon.

Besides winning the RBC Community Ambassador award last season, Joey was also voted the Most Popular Player on the Bombers , he is a mentor with Ruth Betts School and  spends a  lots of time helping out Flin Flon Minor Hockey as a volunteer coach and referee.

He also recently became a private skills coach and does lessons with minor hockey players in the mornings before our practices.   

If there is something happening in the community,  there is a good chance you will see Joey there helping out in some way.

One of the longest running Minor Hockey tournaments in all of Canada will take place this weekend in Thompson.

It is the 55th annual Munn Cup which will feature teams from Thompson, Norway House, Swan Valley, The Pas, Cross Lake, Gillam and both the Northland Ford Bombers and Peds Threads Bombers.

The tournament will start on Friday with the Northland Ford Bombers facing the Cross Lake Islanders at 2:45 and the Peds Threads Bombers will take on the Swan Valley Stampeders in their first game at 4:15.

Round robin will take place throughout Friday and Saturday with the playoff rounds starting on Sunday at 9:45.

Full schedule can be seen at thompsonminorhockey.com.

It was a very successful week one  for the Big Ice/Koop Ski Challenge with many skiers doing this string of trails for their first time.

14 people did send in entries and skied  a combined 87 Km of trails . The  goal was to ski 46km which was the distance to Cranberry Portage and they did make their goal.

With such a successful week one ,  they had  two draws.

Draw 1 winner is Kara Plamondon  

who wins  a $20 gift certificate from The Candy Bar

Draw 2 winner is for the under 15 category, is Lucy Dumenko 

wins  $20 gift certificate from The Chicken Chef.

You can pick your prizes up at the Ski Club Chalet on Monday and Tuesday 4pm-5pm

and Saturday 1pm-4pm from Dennis.

The new map for the challenge for Week 2 is  posted on the Flin Flon Ski Club Facebook page.

So just a few reminders for this weeks challenge

You do not need to send in your trail tracks to enter but you just need to send in how many times you completed the route. Also,  if you can send in the total number of Km's you skied for the week as a whole. So add the number of Km you did with the challenge together with other trails you have skied.

Another category they  want to add to the challenge is for first time skiers that submit they went on any trail for the first time they will get an entry in the draw. A friend can enter their name for them. The ski club has rentals and call Dennis at 204-271-4522

If people can wait till the end of week to send their weeks summary to cut down on the number of emails sent. They also can include a friend's summary with their report.

Please send all entries or questions to koopgeo@gmail.com 

The  mileage goal this week is to ski from Cranberry Portage to The Pas which is 92 Km 

   The Flin Flon Judo Club sent 9 fighters to Melfort on Saturday to compete in the Melfort Judo Club Provincial Tournament. This was the first tournament ever for some of the fighters from Flin Flon, and another day at the office for others. 

 Jacob Hiebert continued on with his undefeated season going 8-0 over 2 divisions, bringing home double gold medals. Zayne Kawerski (4-0), Katie Assie (2-0), Rory McCullough (2-0-1), and Sara Wiens (2-0) all went undefeated in their respective divisions, winning gold medals in both ne-waza (groundwork) and tachi-waza (standing) divisions. 

 Noah Morrell moved up 2 age divisions to compete in Ne-waza and earned a hard fought silver medal. Westley Chlan also earned a silver medal in the Sr. Men's ne-waza division to go with his bronze medal in the Sr. Men's combined tachi-waza division. Acadia Northfield brought home a well deserved silver medal in her first tournament ever. 

 Caleb Masson showed he is on the verge of making a strong run in the u12 boys division, after a couple very close losses, he managed to regroup and bring home a bronze medal in the u12 boys ne-waza division.

   Overall, they  dominated many of the divisions they  had fighters entered in. They  don't get the same training opportunities as the rest of the Judo Saskatchewan athletes do living in the south, so it was nice to see the local  athletes prove that they  are on the right track with their  training here in Flin Flon.

They displayed not only talent, but hard work and sportsmanship throughout the tournament and the team training that followed. They  are looking forward to competing at the Provincial Championships in Moose Jaw on April 5, 2025.

Here are the official results: 

Rory McCullough U10M Newaza GOLD

Katie Assie U12F Newaza  GOLD

Jacob Hiebert U12M mw Newaza GOLD

                         U12M mw Tachiwaza GOLD

Caleb Masson U12M mw Newaza BRONZE

Zayne Kawerski U12M lhw Newaza GOLD  

                             U12M lhw Tachiwaza GOLD

Noah Morrell U12/U16M  hw Newaza SILVER

Westley Chlan Sr. M lw Newaza SILVER

                           Sr. M le Tachiwaza BRONZE

Acadia Northfield Sr. W Newaza SILVER

Sara Wiens Sr. W Newaza GOLD

The Flin Flon Bombers were able to shake off Tuesday's loss to the Nipawin Hawks and took both games against the Estevan Bruins this past weekend by scores of 5 to 2 and 4 to 1.

It was anything but easy,  as the Bruins who are still in the playoff hunt came in and battled the Bombers hard.

In Friday's game,  Rydor Ringor did most of the damage as he had a four point game including his first ever Junior hat-trick. Ringor is now up to 24 goals on the season and has vaulted up to fourth  in league scoring with 52 points.

Reid Arberry and Keefe Gruener rounded out the scoring for Flin Flon  with the Bruins getting their goals from Luke Hogan and Kent Moors. 

Estevan got great goaltending both games including 44 saves from Beck Boiteau who I was told played his best game of the year on Friday. Matthew Kieper was his usual steady self and stopped 27 of 29 for his 17th win of the year.

On Saturday the Bruins came out with lots of energy and were awarded the first goal,  when Steven Streranka jammed home a loose puck in front of the Bomber net.

Estevan kept coming but couldn't convert on their chances and the Bombers made the most of theirs and scored the next four.

Leo Seitz  took advantage of a nice deflection in front of the Estevan net and would tie up the game late in the first for his fourth of the year.

Flin Flon was off to the races as Carter Cormier scored his 18th on the powerplay, Reid Arberry his 8th and Keefe Guener his league leading 28th.

Matthew Kieper was back between the pipes and made 30 saves to collect win number 18. Another splendid goaltending display by Estevan with Zach Shaugnessy making a number of highlight reel saves and gave the Bruins every chance to steal this game.

Goaltending is not the Bruins problem as both guys were lights out both nights. I thought Estevan played hard and competed both nights but just couldn't score that big goal when they needed to.

If they continue to play this way, they are going to be a tough out for a lot of teams down the stretch.

After the weekend the Bombers will improve to 31-10-3-1 and sit second overall with 66 points which is six behind the front running Melfort Mustangs. Melfort also has two games in hand.

Flin Flon continue to lead the third place Weyburn Red Wings by 8 points with the Wings having one game in hand.

Estevan will fall to 14-23-5-1 and remain 13 points behind Kindersley for the final playoff spot.

Next up for the Bombers will be the Notre Dame Hounds who come to town this weekend for a pair of games at the Whitney Forum on Friday and Saturday. You will be able to listen to Saturday's game on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

The Flin Flon Bombers are back on the ice this weekend as they will welcome the Estevan Bruins to town for their only regular season visit.

The Bombers will try to regroup after losing in Nipawin on Tuesday and having their 26 game unbeaten streak in regulation come to an end.

Even though the loss was disappointing,  you have to really appreciate the great hockey the Bombers have played over that span and going over 3 months without a regulation loss.

It will be interesting to see how Flin Flon responds tonight as they haven't had a lot of adversity lately.

Flin Flon still find themselves in a good spot at 29-10-3-1, second overall and 6 points behind the front running Melfort Mustangs.

Moe importantly,  the Bombers  remain 6 points up on the third place Weyburn Red Wings who are proving to everybody that they are a quality hockey team that is going to be a tough out in the post season.

Estevan has certainly gone through a lot of adversity this season and made a coaching change in the new year parting company with Jason Tartanic and giving Assistant Coach Drew Kocur the reigns for the rest of the season.

The Bruins have played better lately and picked up a big win against Weyburn last weekend. They did drop a 4 to 1 decision in Humboldt on Tuesday.

Estevan are not eliminated from playoff contention but certainly have a lot of work to do with a  14-21-5-1 record and sit 10th overall with 34 points. That is 11 points behind Kindersley for the final playoff spot.

The Bruins do have two games in hand on the Klippers.

I expect to see a desperate Bruins team tonight and the Bombers will have their work cut out for them despite what the standings look like.

The season series is 1-1 with both meetings taking place in Estevan with the Bruins winning the first meeting 4 to 2 back on October the 5th, and Flin Flon shut out Estevan in their most recent meeting 4 to 0 on January the 22nd.

There is a lot of history between these two clubs that dates all the way back to the WCHL days of the 60's and 70's and of course a couple of recent playoff meetings.

Who could ever forget the epic league final from 2022 that saw the Bruins win it in 7 games that went back and forth and created not only excitement for both communities but the league as a hole,  and is one of the best SJHL Finals we have seen in the last 20 years.

They also met in the first round in 2023 with Flin Flon winning the series at home in game 7. It is alwats special when these two teams get together and I don't think this weekend will be any different.

Puck drop both nights is 7:30 and we will have the broadcast tomorrow including the Great North GM Coach's Show at 7:10 and play by play at 7:30 for Creighton Furniture.

The Senior Hapnot Kings basketball team will get some  good competition as they will play in the ST Boniface Centurion Classic this weekend.

The tournament will feature some of the top teams in the province including RD Parker out of Thompson, Landmark, OCN, Gray Academy, Minigozibe, Westgate and the host team from ST Boniface.

Hapnot's first game is Friday at 4:30 against the Gray Academy Raiders. 

Round robin will continue into Saturday morning before the playoffs stat Saturday afternoon.

The Senior Queens have the weekend off.

Big Ice Services and Koop Geotechnical are putting together a program to introduce people to all the beautiful trails at the Flin Flon Ski Club. They are calling it the Big Ice/Koop Ski Challenge.

You will also get a chance to win prizes from local businesses.

Each week the club will designate one trail as the featured trail and you can ski anytime between Sunday and Saturday and if your name is drawn you will win a prize. You will receive one entry each time you ski the featured trail during the week.

The featured trail map will be posted on the Flin Flon Ski Club Facebook page and website. Enter your e-mail and the number of times you skied the trail plus the total km's you skied to koopgeo@gmail.com by Saturday at 10pm.

Prizes will be calculated on Sunday and the winners will be contacted.

If you are looking for ski equipment it is available for rent by contacting Dennis at 204-271-4522. You can also contact Dave Koop for any questions at koopgeo@gmail.com.

Congratulations to a pair of Flin Flon Bombers in Keefe Gruener and Matthew Kieper who have received recognition from the SJHL.

Keefe Gruener who just picked up a hat-trick against Melfort on Saturday to hit 26 goals on the season was awarded the SGEU MVP Of The Month for his play in January.

Gruener picked up 18 points in 11 games played including 10 goals. So far on the season he has 26 goals which has him tied for the league lead with Jacob Strizzi of Humboldt. Gruener also has 45 points which has him ranked  9th overall in the league.

Matthew Kieper continues to be one of the best netminders in the league and is the Sasktel Goalie Of The Month for the second time this season.

In January, Kieper was 6-0-1-1 to go along with a 1.84 GAA and a save % of .935.

On the season Kieper is 16-0-1-1 and has yet to lose in regulation. Unfortunately the Bombers saw their 26 game unbeaten streak in regulation come to a close in Nipawin last night.

Flin Flon will look to regroup against Estevan this weekend at the Whitney Forum.

This is going to be a very big year for the Val and Ivor Hedman  Centaloppet as they will celebrate 50 years of the 2.5 km family friendly race.

This will take place in conjunction with  Bust The Winter Blues on Sunday March the 2nd at the Flin Flon Ski Chalet.

Mass start will be  at 2 with registration at 1:30 and there is no entry fee.

Lots of great prizes for the largest family, happiest face and the handicap system makes sure that every skier has a chance at winning the prestigious Centaloppet Cup.

For more information  contact Dave at 204-687-8653 or Dean at 204-923-0315.

The Flin Flon Bombers streak of 26 games without a regulation loss came to an end in Nipawin last night.

The Bombers who have owned the Hawks the last several years had beaten Nipawin in 17 straight games heading into last night.

You could tell right off the hop that this was a different Nipawin team who came out and used an aggressive forecheck,  and didn't allow any of the Bombers to get on track offensively.

After a scoreless first period, Nipawin would open things up  when their leading scorer Carter Anderson buried a shot right off the faceoff early in the second which ended up being the game winner.

Mason Karakochuk would score his 12th and former Bomber Connor Ryan his 6th on the powerplay for a little insurance.

Gage Roberts made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season but was hardly tested. Nipawin did an excellent job keeping the Bombers away from their net and controlled the play all night.

Bomber netminder Kenny Marquart stopped 29 of 32 and suffered the loss.

Despite last night's loss,  you have to admire what the Bombers have accomplished this year going over 3 months without a regulation loss is pretty impressive. Their last regulation loss was in Melfort on October the 30th.

Flin Flon was in tenth place at that time and with their impressive run have been able to move up to second overall at 29-10-3-1. Nipawin will improve to 9-28-3-2 and are now just 3 points behind Notre Dame for 11th overall.

The Hawks have all kinds of confidence now with wins over the Mustangs and Bombers in a little over a week.

The Bombers will try to shake off last night's loss and prepare for the Estevan Bruins who make their way to the Whitney Forum for a pair of games this weekend. The Bruins have been playing better hockey since the coaching change and just beat one of the top teams in the league in Weyburn.

Puck drop both Friday and Saturday is 7:30 and Saturday's game will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and flinflononline.com.

The Northern Stars U-17 Girls Volleyball team had a decent showing at the Premier tournament in Winnipeg this past weekend.

After dropping their first 3 games to the Winman Attack, Predators and Offspeed, the Northern Stars were able to rebound in the playoff round.

The Stars reeled off three straight wins over the Bandits, Aces and Wild winning all 6 sets and finishing 17th out of 34 teams across the province.

The team is made up of girls from Flin Flon and area.

After a slow opening period on Saturday night that saw the Flin Flon Bombers ony pick up three shots, they found their game in the second period and knocked off the front running Melfort Mustangs 4 to 0.

Keefe Gruener did much of the damage offensively as he scored the hat-trick to bring him up to 26 goals on the season. One of his goals came short handed as he picked up a loose puck in the neautral  zone and went in alone to beat Mustang netminder Madden Mulawka low stick side.

That is the 12th short handed goal for the Bombers as a team and the fifth for Gruener. The Bomber record is 8 set by Rob Beck in the 91-92 season.

With his 26 goals, Gruener now has a share in  the league lead with Jacob Strizzi of the Humboldt Broncos.

Ryder Ringor had the other goal for Flin Flon when he re-directed a shot on the power play for his 21st of the season.

Matthew Kieper remains red hot picking up his third shutout in his last 4 games making 24 saves for his 16th win of the season. Madden Mulawka ended up with 30 saves on 34 shots and suffered his first loss of the year.

With the win on Saturday, the Bomber streak has hit 26 games without a regulation loss and they have also closed the gap to two points on the Mustangs for first overall. Melfort does have 3 games in hand.

Flin Flon's record improves to 29-9-3-1 while the Mustangs fall to 32-7.

The season series is now tied at 3 wins a piece with both teams winning all three times in their own building. They will play two more times in a home and home at the end of this month.

It is a busy week for Flin Flon who play three times this week with Estevan coming to town for a pair of games on the weekend. Tomorrow the Bombers make their way to Nipawin to face the Hawks who just dropped a pair of games to Melville on the weekend.

Nipawin remains in the basement with just 8 wins,  but did beat the Mustangs last week, so Flin Flon better not take them lightly. Game time tomorrow is 7pm and we will have the broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and Flinflononine.com beginning with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 6:40.  

The Ped's Threads Bombers had a great weekend as they went undefeated in The Pas and captured the Grub Box Cup.

The Bombers went 4-0 including a 3 to 2 win over Thompson in the final.

Chase Andres had an  excellent weekend in goal and Waylon Crone scored the winning goal in the third period.

This is the third tournament that the Ped's Threads Bombers have won this year including Nipawin and their home tournament. Now they will be looking to win the Munn Cup in Thompson  before hosting Provincials at the end of the month.

The Northland Ford Bombers also had a good weekend in the A1 Division and went 3-0 in the round robin with wins over Swan River, Cross Lake and the Carrol Aeros.

That would put the Bombers in the final against Hudson Bay and they came up just a little short and finished second.

The Teagan Quinn Memorial U-13 Hockey Tournament wrapped up earlier today with an exciting final at the Whitney Forum.

The final featured the Kinsmen U-13 Bombers against the Thompson King Miners who both had 3-1 records heading into the final.

Thompson was able to pull out the win 5 to 4 in overtime on a powerplay goal from Jake Cameron who completed the hat-trick and  ended the game at 6:45 of the extra period.

Give credit to the Bombers who were able to mount the comeback after falling behind 4 to 1.

Flin Flon was led offensively by Dex Tetlock and Parker Meikle who both scored a pair of goals.

Cross Lake doubled the OCN Storm 8 to 4 to win the B-Side and the Thompson A1 King Miners beat The Pas Huskies 3 to 0 to win the Consolation.

A big congratulations to all the sponsors, volunteers, coach's and players who made it a very successful and memorable  weekend and thank everyone that came out to cheer the players on.