This is Bobby Clarke's jersey he wore when he led the Flin Flon Bombers in the late 1960s. Clarke was born in the small Manitoba mining city in 1949. He started playing hockey at the age of 8, and went on to become the star of the local hockey team.
Here is a nice history of the Flin Flon Bombers. Did you know Flin Flon got it's name from a fictional character named Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin in the novel The Sunless City by J. E. Preston Muddock? Did you know the Bombers got their name as the result of a name-the-team contest back in the 1930s. And the original exploding B logo was donated by an explosives company.
Other NHLers from Flin Flon include Ken Baird, Ken Baumgartner, Dean Evason, Al Hamilton, Eric Nesterenko, Reid Simpson, and Ernie Wakely. Retirement banners of Ted Hampson, Mel Pearson, Paddy Ginnell, Gerry Hart, Dale Fox and of course Clarke and Reggie Leach hang high in the rafters for all future generations of hockey stars to admire. Yes, the same Reggie Leach who teamed up with Clarke for those great years in Philadelphia in the 1970s.
Flin Flon, located right on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, may be best known for mining and Bobby Clarke, but in 2002 the town gained international notoriety for their attempts to broaden their economy. It was announced that a Saskatoon company, with a grant from the Canadian government, would open the national medicinal marijuana plant in the city. Actually, for security reasons, several hundred meters under the city in an abandoned mining drift. The company ceased operations in 2009.
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