The Nipawin Hawks celebrate a come from behind win in Melville on Sunday. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Hawks hero

Hawks heist points from Millionaires

Nov 28, 2022 | 9:40 AM

The Nipawin Hawks stunned the Melville Millionaires Sunday scoring in the final minute of regulation and in overtime to pick up a huge 3-2 win on the road.

Sunday’s first of six meetings was an important one. The team sits just two points ahead of the Millionaires in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) standings and there is an expected season long battle for playoff between the teams.

Nipawin started strong and looked fresh after an eight-day break, the Hawks put up 20 shots on Clement Labillois in the first period and beat him just once. Maguire Ratzlaff returned to the lineup after missing last weekend’s road trip in Kindersley and scored his team-leading 17^th goal of the year.

Melville responded in the second tying the game 1-1 heading to the third period. Carter McKay gave the Millionaires the lead in the final frame. When it looked like Melville would vault over the Hawks in the standings with a win, F.X. Bedard tied the game on a goal mouth scramble with just under a minute left and Jackson Fellner on the bench for an extra attacker.

Braxton Buckberger won it for the Hawks In overtime. He said the team needed a response from their last game, a 6-3 loss in Kindersley.

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“Yeah, it’s nice to come out of here with two points,” he said after the game. “It’s a really important game in the standings and we needed a win after last game. It’s a good one to get two points.”

The last two road wins for Nipawin were comeback victories. Buckberger said the team doesn’t quit when they get down and different players are stepping up to help the team win games.

“Guys are making big plays, just keep fighting, we knew we had to play the whole game. It was nice to get one to get to overtime, get a point and then secure another one,” he said.

Buckberger, 19, now has six goals on the year. He said with the game on his stick it felt good to end the game just as a Nipawin powerplay had expired.

“I was thinking ‘shoot it’; I didn’t want to get it blocked, but I had to get it through,” Buckberger said. “I knew the penalty expired behind me. I just got it through, got it low, I was due. I had a lot of shots today, so it was nice to see one sneak in.”

The teams will meet again on Wednesday at the Centennial Arena in Nipawin at 7 p.m.

—

clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork

by Clark Stork

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Hawks heist points from Millionaires

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