The Nipawin Hawks made sure to leave nothing up to chance.
With the Hawks needing just a single win to clinch the league’s regular season pennant, the Hawks exploded for seven goals in a 7-1 home win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
After fumbling away two previous chances to clinch the league’s top seed with a pair of losses to the Melfort Mustangs, the Hawks routed the La Ronge Ice Wolves to claim their first league title since the 1999-2000 season.
Logan Casavant finished with a game high four points scoring once and setting up three others, while Jordan Simoneau added two goals and an assist, and Tyler Adams scored twice to help pace the Hawks.
Michael Grant (goal and an assist), and Jeremy Bisson rounded out the goal scoring for the Hawks, while Brandan Arnold, Josh McDougall, and Ante Mustapic each chipped in a pair of assists.
The win also completed a 6-0 season sweep over the Ice Wolves, which saw the Hawks outscore their opponents 37-6 in the process.
Hawks back-up netminder, Jake Anthony made his 31st appearance of the season turning aside 23 of the 24 shots he faced for his 20th win of the season.
The Hawks outshot the Ice Wolves 64-24.
Ben Manson scored the lone goal for the Ice Wolves.
Despite piling up a combined eight goals, it was a quite night for both teams’ power play as they each finished the evening 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
Knowing a win clinched the league title, the Hawks came out focused and it showed right from the opening faceoff as Casavant got the Hawks on the board with his 17th of the year just 2:04 in.
The Hawks outshot the Ice Wolves 16-9 in the opening period.
The Ice Wolves pushed back slightly in the second as Manson pulled the Ice Wolves even, but that seemed to only wake the Hawks up.
Grant scored less than two minutes later, and Adams added another before the end of the period, giving the Hawks a 3-1 lead after two periods.
The third was more of the same for the Hawks, who fired 21 shots on goal, as Simoneau scored twice, and Bisson and Adams each added a single.
With the league title now in their possession, the Hawks can afford to rest a number of regulars in their final regular season contest when they welcome the Battlefords North Stars to the Cage on March 9.
