The Flin Flon Bombers’ games with the Battlefords North Stars are officially cancelled.
The games had been scheduled for the Civic Centre this past Friday and Saturday, and then were tentatively rescheduled to Tuesday and Wednesday while the Bombers continued to seek health officials’ approval to relocate to Saskatchewan as a road team.
But late Monday came word that the Bombers will pause their season until after the Christmas break. On the SJHL’s Twitter feed the following was posted:
“(1/3) @theSJHL and the @FFBombers have been having discussions with Health Authorities in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan along with representatives of the Saskatchewan Government since Manitoba was deemed a Red Zone due to the increasing numbers of Covid 19.
“(2/3) These discussions included finding alternatives for the Bombers to practise and play. A solution to date has been unable to be found due to the daily increases of Covid 19.
“(3/3) The Bombers have exhausted all avenues in the process while keeping the health of their players and communities in mind. With that the Flin Flon Bombers have decided to pause their season and resume play after the Christmas break.”
For the Battlefords North Stars, the past few weeks have seen COVID-19 and other issues run roughshod over their schedule, with five out of a possible eight regular season games already cancelled/postponed. All five games were lost due to issues impacting the North Stars’ opponents.
In addition to the two games with the Bombers, their home season opener to Kindersley was lost due to weather issues preventing the Klippers from making it to the Battlefords. Meanwhile, an upcoming home and home series with the Melfort Mustangs, scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, is also off due to a COVID-19 exposure.
However, a replacement opponent has been lined up quickly for the weekend games. The North Stars will play the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Friday in La Ronge at 7 p.m. and then again at home Saturday night, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre in North Battleford. For the North Stars, the Saturday contest will finally mark their first home game of the regular season.
The Ice Wolves became available as an opponent after their own upcoming home-and-home series with the Bombers was cancelled. Tickets for the Saturday night game are available at https://tickets.northstars.ca, with attendance still capped at 150 spectators.
