NIPAWIN — The Nipawin Hawks got their split.
The black and gold are back in their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League championship series with a 4-1 win over the Estevan Bruins in Game 2 on home ice.
The win gives the Hawks a split, as the series sits 1-1 heading back to Estevan for Game 3 on April 17.
Despite managing to make the series tied, Doug Johnson, the Hawks’ head coach, was not overly pleased at that situation, noting he expects his club to win every night, and is more upset to not be up 2-0 than happy to be tied 1-1.
“We’ve just got to keep plugging away and keep winning hockey games. Right now it’s who is going to win three out of the next five, it’s a five game series. And for the first time we’ve lost home ice but we need to get that back and keep on battling.”
Logan Casavant and Midget AAA call-up Adam Beckman led the way offensively for the Hawks scoring twice each, while Brandan Arnold and Josh McDougall chipped in with a pair of assists each.
Declan Hobbs rebounded nicely from a loss the night before, turning aside 23 of the 24 shots he faced for his eighth win of the playoffs.
The 20-year-old netminder also chipped in with an assist.
Arthur Miller responded with the lone goal for the Bruins, who saw their streak of six straight games with at least five goals come to an end.
Bo Didur was the hard luck loser in the Bruins goal, allowing three goals on 37 shots for just his second loss of the playoffs.
Knowing they could ill-afford to head back to Estevan down 0-2, the Hawks came out flying and were rewarded early as Casavant notched his fifth goal of the playoffs, putting the Hawks in front 1-0 just 5:29 in.
The home side held the one goal lead through to the second period when Beckman scored his first career SJHL playoff goal, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead.
With a chance to head home up 2-0 the Bruins made a push early in the third period, and were rewarded quickly as Miller beat Hobbs, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 2-1.
That was as close as the Bruins would come however, as Beckman regained the Hawks’ two-goal edge, and Casavant iced it into the empty net, giving the Hawks the 4-1 win.
Beckman’s goal was huge, Johnson noted, saying it allowed the team to settle down a little.
“With it 2-1 everybody’s a little on edge and just with how people’s emotions were you just never know what’s going to happen. But we always have confidence in the guys. We knew that we would keep working, keep plugging hard.”
After a quiet game one that saw just five power plays, the referees took control of game two, dishing out 24 penalties, as the teams combined for 18 power plays.
While both teams had plenty of chances with the man advantage it was the penalty killers who had all of the success, as the Bruins finished the evening 0-for-8, while the Hawks failed to score on any of their ten opportunities.
The Hawks will look to take their first lead of the series, with game three in Estevan on April 14.
Heading back to Estevan, Johnson said the key for his club will be to take care of the puck and make Estevan beat them.
“We can’t give them offense, they generate enough on their own. We have to make sure that we keep them to the outside, that they have to earn every inch of their ice. Then offensively we just have to find a few more holes in the net. I thought we generated a lot of offense, we just didn’t capitalize and then obviously our power play needs to get much better.”
