The Nipawin Hawks met the Estevan Bruins in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action Saturday.
Hurting Hawks

Bruins bear down to beat Hawks

Oct 17, 2021 | 12:29 PM

The Nipawin Hawks road woes continued Saturday night in Estevan as the club lost 4-1 to the Bruins in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) action.

Coming off a 4-2 loss to the Weyburn Red Wings Friday the Hawks were looking to rebound against the Bruins in their first meeting of the season.

Estevan would open the scoring at 7:54 of the opening period on a powerplay off the stick of Caelan Fitzpatrick. The 1-0 lead stood until early in the middle frame when Olivier Pouliot snapped a wrist shot past Nipawin netminder Dylan Lacroix making it 2-0.

The Hawks would get several powerplay opportunities in the second period including a five-minute major and a five-on-three man advantage split between the end of the period and the start of the third. Nipawin would capitalize shortly after the teams returned to full strength; Joel Mabin scored his second goal of the weekend to close the gap to 2-1.

The Bruins responded shortly thereafter when Kade Runke made it 3-1, Runke added an empty-net tally with five seconds to go to cap the scoring.

Lacroix made 25 stops in the loss. Cam Herdlicka turned aside 25 shots in the Estevan net.

The club is battling injuries with captain Mkyllan Couture, second-year forward Carson Dobson, and rookie winger Dayne Feicht all missing the trip the bench got thinner Saturday with Dawson Brace taking a vicious hit that led to the five-minute power play that knocked him out of the contest and Sunday’s game as well.

The club announced on Saturday they’ve acquired 20-year-old forward Kye Whillans from the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for a player development fee. He’s expected to arrive in Nipawin Monday.

Nipawin’s record sits at 5-5 after their third straight defeat. The Hawks will try to salvage their southern road trip with a win in Notre Dame Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

The game can be heard on Saskatchewan’s New Beach Radio beginning with the pregame show at 4:15 p.m.

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