The Estevan Bruins were too much for the Nipawin Hawks Tuesday at the Centennial Arena. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Bear attack

Bruins score early and often in win over Hawks

Dec 1, 2021 | 3:07 AM

The Estevan Bruins were too much for the Nipawin Hawks Tuesday at the Centennial Arena.

The Hawks felt like they had some momentum building after taking three of a possible four points on the road last weekend, however the Centennial Cup host Estevan Bruins said otherwise Tuesday cruising to a 6-0 win in Nipawin.

Nipawin’s head coach Doug Johnson felt his team played well in the opening period even outshooting the Bruins 12-8, but Nolan Jones scored just 1:16 into the game, Dayton Deics made the game 2-0 halfway through the first period putting the Hawks in a huge hole. Johnson said the team’s game plan fell apart early.

“We give up a goal a 1:16 in, we talked about a lot of things. On the first goal against it’s the stuff we talk about. It just flies out the window,” Johnson said.

The Bruins widened the gap in the second, Mark Rumsey scored a powerplay goal, Caelan Fitzpatrick made the game 4-0, Rumsey added his second before the middle period expired. Keagon Little capped the scoring halfway through the third period. Johnson said his club had some chances early, but overall, the entire team didn’t perform up to their potential.

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“We could have scored a few but we made some egregious mistakes to give them the six, it was definitely a team effort,” he said.

Chase Hamm started his third straight game in goal. The 19-year-old Saskatoon product allowed five goals on 20 shots, he was relieved by Harmon Laser-Hume, the Hawks backup stopped 14 of 15 shots in just over 25 minutes of action.

Nipawin will now get set for a home-and-home series with the La Ronge Ice Wolves starting Friday at the Centennial Arena. Johnson said there is very little that can be taken from Tuesday’s loss going into the weekend.

“Other than its over,” he quipped. “Not a whole lot. It’s over, we’re going to chalk it up as okay, no more. We have been on an okay run; we had the three points of four and I don’t know if we got complacent or what, but we definitely need better than what we showed tonight.”

Friday’s faceoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Saturday’s game from La Ronge will be on Saskatchewan’s New Beach Radio beginning 15 minutes prior to puck drop.

Off the Ice

The Hawks also announced on Tuesday that the team has made two separate trades involving 18-year-old defensemen.

Nipawin sent Liam Bell to the Kindersley Klippers for a 2023 second round draft pick and a player development fee. In turn the Hawks acquired Ranon Joseph from the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for an undisclosed player development fee. Johnson hopes to have the 6-5 blueliner in the lineup on the weekend.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork