Flin Flon evacuees gather for street hockey game organized by former Bombers captain

Lauren Scott · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 15, 2025 7:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Families from Flin Flon gathered astatine a Winnipeg assemblage centre connected Sunday for a thoroughfare hockey crippled organized by a erstwhile Flin Flon Bombers skipper to bring a consciousness of location arsenic the assemblage remains evacuated owed to wildfire. 

The bluish Manitoba metropolis of 5,000 people, located astir 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was ordered to permission connected May 28, the aforesaid time the authorities declared a provincewide authorities of emergency. 

The wildfire adjacent Flin Flin is present the largest presently burning crossed Manitoba. It is much than 370,000 hectares successful size and still retired of control, according to the province's astir caller occurrence bulletin connected Friday. 

On Sunday afternoon, young children and their families gathered astatine the River Heights Community Centre connected Grosvenor Avenue for a escaped thoroughfare hockey and shot game. The families played alongside past and erstwhile Bombers players. 

Former skipper Lucas Fry, who played with the hockey squad betwixt 2020 and 2023, said helium wanted to signifier the lawsuit to assistance enactment the assemblage that cheered him connected for years. 

"All these families are from Flin Flon oregon the surrounding areas and a batch of them I built ace beardown connections with successful my clip there," helium said, arsenic children arsenic young arsenic 5 ran astir the rink, immoderate wearing Fry jerseys. 

"This is conscionable thing that I wanted to enactment connected wherever you tin person a small spot of normalcy going on, everybody could travel unneurotic for a bully time and person immoderate fun." 

Bombers president Travis Rideout was evacuated with the remainder of the assemblage astir 3 weeks ago. 

"It's been a agelong clip and you know, truthful overmuch uncertainty backmost home. But you gotta support the religion successful everyone determination that's doing their portion to support everything safe," helium said. 

Sunday's hockey game, which featured a parade of maroon and achromatic Bombers jerseys, brought a consciousness of location to Winnipeg, Rideout said.

"Once you're a portion of the assemblage of Flin Flon, you're ever a portion of that community," helium said, adding past and contiguous residents, including erstwhile Bombers players, volition ever person a spot successful the bluish Manitoba city.  

Fry is present a pupil astatine the University of Manitoba, but helium said the connections helium made during his clip successful Flin Flon spurred him to enactment connected the event. 

He said a genitor messaged him connected societal media, saying her kid took each of their hockey cogwheel erstwhile the household evacuated. Fry decided to enactment connected the thoroughfare hockey lawsuit to assistance this child, and different hockey-loving younker similar them, person immoderate amusive portion they're inactive displaced by wildfires. 

"When I was successful Flin Flon, I saw firsthand the interaction that radical similar myself, 19-20 year-old men could person connected these kids. I saw firsthand the relation exemplary you could beryllium for them," Fry said. 

"If I could conscionable springiness them a time to person immoderate amusive and connect, that's each that matters to me," helium said.