Oct. 6
The Nipawin Hawks survived multiple momentum swings to outlast the Humboldt Broncos 7-5 in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action in Humboldt on Oct. 6.
The Hawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the midway mark of the second period thanks to goals from Logan Casavant, Austin Mikesch and Josh McDougall, before watching the Broncos score twice in 20 seconds in the second period and once more in the third to tie the score.
The Hawks then flipped the script on the Broncos as Brandan Arnold took over the game scoring twice in 16 seconds, and once more five minutes later to complete the natural hat trick.
Arnold, who was making his season debut for the Hawks after being returned from the Western Hockey League, noted it felt great to chip in with a hat trick, noting it was a real confidence boost.
“I haven’t scored a hat trick in a while but it’s good getting those points. Most importantly at the end of the night just getting the win is key, especially this early in the season and having a young team this year, it’s really key.”
Arnold noted his teammates were making great passes to him in the third period, which allowed him to get open.
“I was getting time and space and when I get time and space that’s when I’m at my best. Honestly I was just shooting the puck and it was working out for me.”
Sloppy play then came back to bite the Hawks as they gave up two more goals, just 20 seconds apart again as they saw their three goal lead shrink to one.
Brett Harasymuk put an end to the Hawks’ slide with his third goal of the season, to give the Hawks the 7-5 lead.
With the two teams playing such a wide open style, Arnold notes the key for the Hawks will be to focus on the little things.
“We just need to play a better d-zone and clean things up. We’re a young team this year, not like last year where stuff like that came quick to us, it’s going to take time and we just need to clean that stuff up and we’ll be fine.”
Declan Hobbs, also making his return to the Hawks after spending time in the WHL picked up his first win of the season turning aside 26 of the 31 shots he faced as the Hawks outshot the Broncos 38-31.
Oct. 7
A huge start was the difference for the Nipawin Hawks as they knocked off the Humboldt Broncos 6-3 on home ice in the back half of their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League home-and-home series.
“We put a lot of pressure on Humboldt’s D and I think we caught them a little off guard too and then we took advantage of some of the breakdowns and obviously found holes,” noted Doug Johnson, the head coach, of the great start.
The Hawks piled up four goals in the first period as Jordan Simoneau scored a pair and Harasymuk, and Jake Tremblay added singles for the Hawks.
Keillan Olson added his first of the year just over one minute into the second period to give the Hawks a 5-0 lead.
The Broncos then began clawing back as they scored two straight to cut the Hawks lead to three.
Olson then scored his second of the night just short of the midway mark of the third to give the Hawks an insurmountable lead.
The Broncos would add one more but could not get any closer as the Hawks skated away with the 6-3 win.
After building up a 5-0 lead the Hawks were outscored 3-1 by the Broncos, which was a case of both the Broncos pushing forward and the Hawks sitting back, noted Johnson.
“We got a little complacent, we got a little sloppy… when you have big leads sometimes it’s tough to stay engaged and stay motivated and we’ve addressed that too and we need to get better at it.”
The Hawks special teams were once again solid as the power play finished the evening 2-for-9 with the man advantage and the power play finished the night 10-for-11 killing penalties.
Despite finishing with a success rate over 90 per cent, Johnson admits he wasn’t happy to see his team allow 11 power plays against.
“We talked about the discipline and then I think some of that is you’re playing a team for the first time since the home opener on a back-to-back with a lot of new faces and it got a little chippy. It’s unfortunate. We don’t like it, we addressed it, and we’ll move on.”
Declan Hobbs picked up his second straight win in the Hawks cage since returning from the Western Hockey League kicking aside 27 of the 30 shots he faced as the Hawks outshot the Broncos 32-30.
The Hawks’ next action comes Oct. 13 when they welcome the Yorkton Terriers to town.
Despite the Terriers coming into the game having allowed a league high 43 goals against, Johnson notes the Hawks’ focus will be solely on themselves.
