The Bruins were all around the Nipawin net Friday in SJHL action in Estevan. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Win streak busted

Hawks winning streak snapped in blowout loss to Estevan

Oct 18, 2025 | 10:14 AM

The Nipawin Hawks had “one of those nights” on Friday, falling 7-1 in Estevan.

Riding a six-game winning streak, their longest in two and a half years, the Hawks were tied 1-1 after the first period at Affinity Place but gave up six unanswered goals in their first loss in October. Head Coach and General Manager Tad Kozun said sometimes the games just get away.

We just didn’t have it tonight,” Kozun said on the post-game show on CJVR. “We weren’t handling passes, we couldn’t make tape-to-tape plays, pucks were bouncing. We weren’t defending, we didn’t have our minds into it. It was one of those nights.”

After Estevan opened the scoring in the first, Will Whitter quickly answered back, tying the game 1-1 with his fifth goal of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season.

The Bruins added a pair in the second frame, taking a 3-1 lead, but Estevan took a five-minute major for charging at the end of the period. Nipawin failed to score on the advantage and gave up a shorthanded marker to go down four, essentially sealing the result.

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“When you don’t have it, how can you impact the game in other ways? Way too many turnovers, when you get a five-minute power play, and we didn’t generate anything, especially for how good our power play has been. We give up that shorthanded goal, and we were chasing too much,” Kozun explained.

Nipawin will conclude the weekend road trip in Weyburn on Saturday night. The Red Wings sit atop the SJHL standings while the Hawks are tied for third with a couple of games in hand of the other two teams (Kindersley, Estevan). Kozun said getting right back at it a night later is the best thing for his team.

“The nice part is we are right back at it tomorrow. We will head to Weyburn, get some sleep, and tomorrow will be a new day. We’ve got to be ready for Weyburn; they are rolling right now, and we need to be ready for big boy hockey. The biggest thing tonight is in the third period, we quit defending and left our goalie out to dry, who has been so good for us and made many big saves all year long,” Kozun added.

Faceoff is 7 p.m. at Whitecap Resources Centre, the pregame show on Beach 750 begins at 6:45 p.m.