NIPAWIN—For the fourth year in a row the Nipawin Hawks are in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League semifinals.
After losing to division rivals Melfort in 2015 and 2016 and Flin Flon in 2017, the Hawks will find themselves matched up with a team outside their division. They will be taking on the Humboldt Broncos, the same team they bounced from the playoffs four games to none in last year’s SJHL quarter-final series.
While the Hawks head into the series knowing they do not have to face a division foe, and hold a 12 game winning streak against the Broncos dating back to last year, Doug Johnson, the Hawks' head coach, said the series will not be easy.
“They’ve been playing extremely well and they’ve made a lot of changes from the start of the year until now. We just expect a long battle and hopefully we come out on top.”
Before the teams could engage in their second round war, each team enjoyed a week off, with the Hawks knocking off Flin Flon in five, and ditto for Humboldt over Melfort.
While the Hawks have been playing solid hockey, Johnson was pleased to have the time off, saying it is important.
“[If] you finish a series in five games, you kind of earn a little bit of a break. It’s always nice because guys are getting banged up, they get tired, they need a little bit of that couple days off to just regroup and refocus. Then you get a little more time to prepare and just try and get better.”
Hawks in decent position heading into semis
The Hawks made their way to the semifinals thanks to Josh McDougall’s last second overtime winner in game five against the Bombers.
That win gave the Hawks a 4-1 series win over the Bombers, avenging last year’s seven game loss, which saw the Hawks blow a 3-1 lead.
This year however, the Hawks made sure to leave nothing up to chance as they rolled through the series, outscoring the Bombers 16-7 in their five game win.
Brandan Arnold was terrific as always for the Hawks, registering six goals and ten points, both league bests to lead the charge in the first round.
Reigning SJHL defenseman of the year Josh McDougall also enjoyed a solid round as the Hawks’ regular season scoring leader chipped in with two goals and eight points.
In goal, Hawks netminder Declan Hobbs was terrific, posting a 4-1 record along with a 1.32 goals against average and a .958 save percentage.
While the big guns were scoring, the Hawks received contributions from nearly their entire roster as 13 different skaters registered at least one point in the series against Flin Flon.
With all of that in mind, Johnson said he likes where his team is at right now, but added there is always room for improvement.
“The guys are understanding the mistakes we’re making, they’re understanding some of our concerns and working on it. It’s not lack of effort, it’s not lack of skill, it’s just a little bit lack of execution and trying to do too much. So we just need to trust each other and trust the systems and we’ll be fine.”
Broncos top line
While the Hawks’ top guns performed at a high level in the first round, they might have been outdone by the Broncos’ own elite scorers.
The Broncos’ top line of Nick Shumlanski, Jaxon Joseph and Logan Schatz combined for 26 points in their five game win over Melfort.
Shumlanski currently sits tied with Arnold for the league lead in points, while Joseph sits tied with Arnold for the goal scoring lead.
Shutting that line down will go a long way in allowing the Hawks to win this series, and as Johnson noted, that starts with staying disciplined.
“If you look at it their power play was pretty outstanding," he said. "Five-on-five we’re just going to focus on doing what we always do."
“Flin Flon has some extremely high-end players," he continued. "I thought we did a good job of keeping them off the scoresheet 5-on-5 just by doing what we do and it’s going to be the same against Humboldt.”
With the Hawks fresh off a series where they were forced to keep a watchful eye on the talented trio of Nate Hooper, Chrystopher Collin and Brandson Hein, Johnson noted it should help his club, but said they have been playing against high-end talent all season and should be used to it by now.
“Our guys have played against good lines all year long and for the most part we don’t match. So up and down our lineup, we’ve had matchups where everybody’s played against the other teams’ top line so there should be confidence, they should understand what we need to do to have success against the other team,” he said.
“The playoffs are nice for that, obviously, but it’s something we’ve focused on all year long.”
Broncos goaltending
While the Hawks possess an excellent goaltending tandem, so too do the Broncos.
Humboldt comes into the series with a pair of goalies, who are both playoff tested.
Reigning SJHL co-rookie of the year Jacob Wassermann started in goal for the first two games of their series against the Mustangs, before Parker Tobin came on in Game 3 and it was lights out.
Tobin ripped off wins in each of his three starts, posting a 0.99 goals against average and a .968 save percentage.
While it is likely Tobin will start Game 1 for the Broncos, both goalies could find their way into the net in the series.
Despite this, Johnson said he is not interested in worrying about which goalie will get the call on any given night.
“If I’m worrying about what Humboldt’s doing, I’m taking away time from our team,” he said, noting his team has faced Wassermann once and Tobin twice this season.
“We think we have an okay understanding of both their goalies, we’ve seen them both," he said. "The guys are going to be watching video so it’s not really about what they do it’s going to be what we do and what we want to dictate the terms of the engagement. If we just play our game we have some guys that can find the corners and really that’s the key on scoring goals is finding corners.”
Looking ahead
The Hawks will begin their quest for their first league title since 1990 and second overall with Game 1 on home ice on March 30.
Game 2 will got the following night in Nipawin, before the series reverts back to Humboldt for Games 3 and 4 April 2 and 3.
Humboldt Broncos (5) vs. Nipawin Hawks (1)
Season Series: Nipawin: 6-0 (Nipawin outscored Humboldt 28-17)
Power Plays: Nipawin: 6-for-25, Humboldt: 3-for-36
Top Scorers: Nipawin – Josh McDougall – 1 goal, 10 assists Humboldt – Logan Schatz – 3 goals, 5 assists
Goalies: Nipawin – Declan Hobbs – 3-0 record with a .888 save percentage Humboldt – Parker Tobin – 0-2 record with a .909 save percentage
Last Playoff Meeting: 2016-17 Quarter-final: Nipawin wins 4-0
Total H2H Playoff Records: Humboldt leads series 5-1 (2016-2017 Quarter-final: Nipawin wins 4-0, 2007-08 Quarter-final: Humboldt wins 4-2, 2006-07 Semifinal: Humboldt wins 4-2, 2003-04 Quarter-final: Humboldt wins 4-3, 1990-91 Semifinal: Humboldt wins 4-3, 1988-89 Final: Humboldt wins 4-1
