A poor 12 minute stretch of hockey sunk the Nipawin Hawks as they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Melfort Mustangs in the back half of their season opening Saskatchewan Junior Hockey league home-and-home series in Nipawin
After scoring the Sept. 16 game’s opening goal, the Hawks gave up five answered goals in a 12 minute stretch between the end of the first period and mid-way through the second.
“We got a little undisciplined, we made one bad change but there were some plays that have to be made that weren’t made and there are some individual efforts that really need to improve,” noted Doug Johnson, the Hawks’ head coach, of that stretch.
Power plays were once again a big difference in the hockey game, as the Mustangs finished the night 2-for-7 on the power play, while the Hawks finished the night 0-for-8.
Johnson noted the Hawks were pretty solid in the offensive zone with the man advantage but said getting in the Mustangs zone was the challenge, noting they did not break the puck out very much, could not get clean zone entry, and the players were too focused on being an individual and did not support the puck well enough.
“Then I thought without the puck we didn’t work hard enough to get open and find seams. And when we did... then it seemed like there was a bad bounce or the hockey gods were against us.”
The Hawks opened the scoring at 13:06 on the first period as Thomas Lenchyshyn scored his first goal of the season, before the Mustangs took over as Reed Gunville and Tanner Zentner scored in the first period and Justin Ball, Carson Albrecht and Kayle Tosh added goals in the second.
Despite trailing in the first period, Trevor Blevins, the Mustangs’ head coach, was pleased with his team’s start, and noted he was even more pleased with their response after the goal.
“We stayed with it and kept competing, with all four lines, all six defense came to play and really we just got rewarded for our effort. I thought we drew lots of penalties because of that and we took advantage on the power play, which was huge.”
Despite trailing 5-1 the Hawks refused to quit and pushed back in the third scoring a pair of goals off the sticks of Logan Casavant and Michael Grant, while outshooting the Mustangs 11-2 in the process.
Johnson was pleased to see his team push back, and noted that for the most part, aside from the 12 minute stretch his team played a good game, they just need time to gel as a unit.
“We’re just not emotionally stable enough as a team right now, we’re so young in the season. We’ll get it figured out, we’ll get the mental toughness into us.”
For the Mustangs, a large part of their slow start to the third period came down to their lack of experience playing with such a large lead, noted Blevins, who said they did not have too many 5-1 leads last season.
“We took a few trips to the penalty box, which maybe is expected and you get back on your heels because you’re afraid to be as aggressive but I thought once they made it even 5-2 we really buckled in.”
Evan Plotnik picked up his second straight win to open up the SJHL season as he kicked aside 32 of the 35 shots he faced, while Lance Alm was charged with his second straight loss giving up four goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Jake Anthony who finished the night with 13 saves on 14 shots.
Next up for the Mustangs is a trip to La Ronge on Sept. 20 to take on the Ice Wolves.
Blevins noted the key to being successful on the road in a tough building like La Ronge, which has a smaller ice surface will be to be physical.
“We’ve got to play a heavy game. We’ve added some more size to our lineup because of that and more grit.”
The Hawks meanwhile are off until Sept. 22 when they travel to Flin Flon to take on the Bombers.
With a week off to prepare, Johnson said the team will be focusing on special teams, stopping the puck, and the small details of the game.
