Big week begins Tuesday for Hawks

The Nipawin Hawks have three games this week before the Christmas holidays put a halt to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season and all three are against division rivals.

Tuesday at the Centennial Arena the Hawks will host the La Ronge Ice Wolves before a weekend home-and-home series with Melfort closes the 2022 portion of Nipawin’s season. The Hawks had a four game winning streak going into last weekend’s home-and-home set with the Battlefords North Stars. Nipawin lost both its games. Despite the result, Nipawin Head Coach Tad Kozun was pleased with how his team matched up with the top-ranked North Stars.

“I thought it was a good weekend, I thought we played pretty well, just couldn’t get one past their goalie,” Kozun said. “Outshooting a team like that is a positive step, would have liked to get a win or points but looking back on it I like the way we played, I liked the pace we were playing at. If we can continue that, I think we will have a lot of success.”

Nipawin’s offence has heavily improved this season as they sit middle of the 12-team league when it comes to scoring goals. On the weekend Nipawin fired 40 shots on goal both nights against the Battlefords but both nights the North Stars net minding was the difference. Kozun said the players need to find that extra effort near the net.