The Nipawin Hawks built up an early lead and hung on for a 3-2 victory in Game 2 of their best of seven Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff series against the Flin Flon Bombers.
The Game 2 win on April 1, came on home ice and pushed the Hawks ahead 2-0 in the series.
After building a 3-0 lead through two periods on goals by Brandan Arnold, Josh Bly and Grant Baetsen, the Hawks sat back in the third and were nearly punished for it as the Bombers scored twice to make it a game.
Despite the third period scare, Doug Johnson, the Hawks’ head coach was not upset with his teams’ effort.
“We did play a little more defensive but when you’re up 3-0 teams are going to do that. We didn’t want to give them the easy goals.”
Johnson noted neither goal came particularly easy for the Bombers as they scored the first one while on a 5 on 3 and scored the second one thanks to some lucky breaks.
“We blocked two shots and both times it ends up back on their tape so they worked for their bounces there. We can’t really complain about the effort, we’re getting down, we’re blocking shots, we’re doing what we need to do.”
Johnson noted offensively, the Hawks had their chances but were just a little hesitant to shoot the puck. Instead, they kept the puck on their stick looking to kill time off the clock.
“That’s a good learning lesson for us where we still have to be aggressive offensively instead of just holding the puck,” said Johnson.
The Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first period, and extended their lead to three with a pair of second period goals.
The Hawks now head back to Flin Flon for Game 3 of the series on April 4 and, as Johnson notes, they are in good position so the key will be to continue playing the way they have been.
“It’s continuing to have a strong work ethic, it’s continuing to play physical and to work for our chances. We’re in a good spot here, we’re not looking to change a whole lot up, we’re not going to reinvent the wheel being up 2-0.”
