After struggling against the Flin Flon Bombers during the regular season, the Nipawin Hawks will be out for revenge as they get set to hook up in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s semifinal playoff series.
The Hawks come into the series fresh off a pair of 4-0 blankings in their two previous games against the Bombers, including the first place showdown on the final night of the regular season.
With just one win in eight games against the Bombers this season, Doug Johnson, the Hawks’ head coach, hopes his team can carry some of the momentum built up during their four game sweep of the Humboldt Broncos in the first round.
“We had a meeting yesterday and brought up a few things that maybe cleared the air on some concerns, some issues. But we just have to have a lot of belief in ourselves and hopefully the guys have that after the Humboldt series.”
The penalty kill will be critical for the Hawks in the series as they have given up five goals in their last three games against the Bombers.
Despite the low percentage, Johnson is not overly worried about their penalty kill, noting the Bombers were able to take advantage of some breakdowns by the Hawks penalty killers.
“One of the goals we gave up was a breakaway. That doesn’t happen very often. We just got a little sloppy and then in the last game we gave up three and every single one of them was just a blown assignment by us. That’s things we haven’t done basically all year.”
The Bombers come into the series with a significant amount of skill on forward as Greyson Reitmeier, Jason Lavallee and Rylee Zimmer all finished the season in the top ten in league scoring.
“We have to make sure that they defend instead of play offense. If we own the pucks and be very simple when they’re on the ice life will be pretty good for us. If we want to play run and gun, life’s going to be a little more difficult,” said Johnson.
The series kicks off March 31 in Flin Flon, with Game 2 in Nipawin on April 1. The remainder of the series will see the teams in Flin Flon for Game 3 April 4, in Nipawin for Game 4 April 5, Game 5, if necessary will be back in Flin Flon on April 7, and should it get stretched to six or seven games, Game 6 will be in Nipawin on April 9 and Game 7 will be in Flin Flon on April 11.
