Hawks fall short in loss to North Stars, rematch Saturday

The Nipawin Hawks had their longest winning streak of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season snapped Friday with a 3-1 loss to the Battlefords North Stars.

Riding high on a four-game streak that helped the Hawks climb into a playoff spot at the halfway point of the season the top-ranked North Stars were too much on home ice where they are now 16-0. Nipawin Head Coach Tad Kozun said on the postgame show of Rona Nipawin Hawks Hockey that his team stayed with the Battlefords but couldn’t provide an answer to netminder Justin Maric.

“We ended up outshooting them, I thought we really came on in the third period and kind of took it to them. You’ve got to give credit to their goalie, he made some big saves for them,” he said.

The North Stars opened the scoring courtesy of the SJHL’s leading sniper Kian Bell. The Fall River, N.S. product beat former teammate Lowen Kenyon early in the first period and again late in the second to up his goal tally to 23. Kenyon was acquired from the Battlefords last week and made his Nipawin debut against his former club. He made 31 stops in the loss. Kozun added that the 18-year-old Cochin, Sask. resident was good and has a bright future with the Hawks.