NIPAWIN—Michael Grant played the overtime hero by scoring a power play goal 2:33 into double overtime, giving the Nipawin Hawks a 3-2 overtime victory over the Humboldt Broncos.
Grant’s goal gave the Hawks a 1-0 series lead in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League semifinals.
Grant banged home a Brett Harasymuk rebound to give the black and gold the early series lead.
Thomas Lenchyshyn led the way offensively for the Hawks, scoring the tying goal and setting up one other, while Grant and Tyler Adams each added a goal, and Harasymuk chipped in with two assists.
Declan Hobbs picked up the win in the Hawks’ Cage turning aside 33 shots for his fifth win of the playoffs.
It was a particularly important win for the black and gold, who spent the second half of the game short a forward, as Adams was ejected for charging.
Despite being shorthanded, Hawks head coach Doug Johnson was quick to note it was not a huge factor, as the players were used to playing shorthanded.
“You just have to run your bench a little different and I thought the guys did a nice job staying focused. We had some chances, we never got frustrated. We just stayed focused, stuck to the game plan and just kept working and I thought slowly we kind of took over the game a little bit later on.”
Bryce Fiske responded with a goal and an assist for the Broncos, while Conner Lukan added the other goal and Logan Schatz chipped in with two assists.
Parker Tobin was charged with the loss in the Broncos goal after allowing three goals on 47 shots.
Adams got the Hawks on the board first, notching a power play marker, his second of the playoffs, at 14:51 of period one to put the Hawks in front 1-0 after one period.
After giving his team the early lead, Adams put his team in a difficult spot in the second period, as the 20-year-old Regina native was slapped with a five minute major and a game misconduct for charging, putting his team shorthanded.
The visitors took full advantage of the extended power play as Lukan and Fiske scored goals 33 seconds apart, both during the Adams penalty, giving the Broncos a 2-1 lead after two periods.
With the Hawks trailing, Johnson said the message was simple: stick with it, stay focused, and control emotions.
“We were getting chances, we would have liked to have buried a few more but that’s hockey. They were playing tight and their goaltender was playing well and we needed to make a few adjustments on our power play that I thought we did later on but the big thing was just control the emotions and good things will happen.”
Penalties and desperation saw the Hawks take charge of the third period, as they outshot the Broncos 11-4.
Tobin stood tall for the green and gold for the majority of the period, until Lenchyshyn pulled the Hawks into a tie with his first goal of the playoffs, just 1:46 before the final horn.
Lenchyshyn’s goal sent the game to overtime tied at two.
In the first extra session, the teams went back and forth, until a late Logan Schatz penalty put the Hawks on the power play.
Schatz’s penalty came with 42 seconds left in the first overtime, and after the Hawks failed to score, they carried 1:18 of power play time into the second overtime period.
While killing that penalty off, Logan Boulet was charged with a holding minor, giving the Hawks a two second 5-on-3.
The home side failed to score on the brief 5-on-3, but they made sure to capitalize on the 5-on-4 as Grant beat Tobin to give the Hawks the win.
That goal was huge, admitted Johnson, as the club finally cashed in on their seventh man advantage.
“We needed that goal big time and it was nice to see the guys step up and be difference makers and put it away. Especially the way we accomplished it, just a simple play and a rebound.”
It was a perfect time for the Hawks to cash in on the power play as they failed to score on each of their first six chances and finished the evening 1-for-7.
While the Hawks’ power play was quiet, it was a wild evening for the Broncos’ power play as they managed goals on 2-of-4 opportunities, but also yielded a shorthanded goal against.
