St. Albert product Colton Schmidt has signed a letter of intent to join the Nipawin Hawks next season. (Submitted photo/Nipawin Hawks)

By Clark Stork

Building for the future

Hawks sign Schmidt; youth movement underway as season winds down

Mar 4, 2022 | 11:50 AM

The Nipawin Hawks have taken another step forward in the future of their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) organization signing 2004-born forward Colton Schmidt to a letter of intent on Thursday.

The St. Albert, Alta. product is currently playing for the under-18 prep team at Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton. Hawks Interim General Manager Tad Kozun said the prospect of having a player of Schmidt’s calibre in the teams line up next season is enticing.

“We’re really excited to get him, he works super hard, gets to the hard areas. I think he has a chance to move up our line up quickly,” he said. “Just his work ethic, he never gives up on plays. He wears a letter with his team, we felt that was a need going forward.”

The five feet, 10 inches tall, 170 pound, left shot winger has 12 goals this season. His tallies go as high as 18 in under-15 hockey. Kozun said adding a player that has potential to score at the junior level adds to the excitement of the commitment.

“He’s put-up numbers and hopefully he can translate that to junior hockey. Everyone knows when you come in at 18 years old it gets tougher and tougher, but when you have a guy that wants to work and is committed to the game like Colton is I think he will do well,” Kozun said.

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The Hawks have been eliminated from the SJHL playoff race and have three games left on the schedule including a home-and-home with Melfort starting Friday at the Centennial Arena. With no postseason experience this year many of the Hawks core pieces going forward next season will have gone potential three years without getting into a playoff game. Schmidt has had several runs in his minor hockey career, something Kozun also pointed out.

“Anytime you can bring in a guy with playoff experience is huge,” Kozun agreed. “It’s been a year and a half with no playoffs so being able to get guys with that experience and knowing what it takes to win is obviously key.”

The Hawks current youth movement is well underway. On Tuesday against the Flin Flon Bombers Nipawin had no 20-year-old players in the line up while 16-year-olds Cole Barry and Eric Hoiness made their Nipawin debuts. The pair of Saskatoon products will suit up again Friday as will hometown product Owen Myhre, his first game as a Hawk. Kozun said seeing the younger plays come in and play hard at the junior level is a breath of fresh air.

“It’s good to get these guys in town, when there is a coaching change it’s nice to bring them in to see how we do things and get to know them better. You hope they are future Hawks and I see both Barry and Hoiness as future Hawks,” he said.

Finley Radloff, another Nipawin product will suit up for his sixth game Friday.

Despite Nipawin’s fate being sealed for an 11^th place finish this year the team still wants to play spoiler, especially against the Mustangs who are jockeying for position in the postseason race.

“This is a chance for us to play spoiler and make sure that we compete every night and make sure we’re bringing it. It’s still about the process and getting better, if you go out there and don’t want to compete you aren’t making yourself better,” Kozun said.

Faceoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Melfort and Nipawin will faceoff for the 10^th and final time Saturday at the Northern Lights Palace, also at 7:30 p.m.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork