By Clark Stork
High Flying Hockey

Hawks outscored in Melfort

Jan 1, 2022 | 1:53 PM

The Nipawin Hawks offence came to life Friday night in Melfort against the Mustangs but the club couldn’t outscore their rivals and dropped a 6-4 decision at the Northern Lights Palace.

The game was the fifth of 10 between the archrivals this season and the fourth straight Melfort win.

The Home team on Friday jumped out to an early lead, Tye Sherger and Ben Tkachuk scored in the first period giving the Mustangs a 2-0 lead. Nipawin would respond before the conclusion of the first period, Christian Albertson scored his team-leading 10th goal while the Hawks were shorthanded for their third shorthanded tally of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season. Despite the one-goal deficit, Nipawin head coach Tad Kozun was not impressed with his team’s effort in the opening frame.

“The first period was completely unacceptable, I thought we were terrible,” he said on the postgame show. “We were on Christmas break still, there is no explanation, there is no excuses. The guys weren’t ready to go and that’s on Bart (Rushner, assistant coach) and I for not having them ready. That’s on us, we’ll make sure we have them ready to go tomorrow.”

The Hawks came out flying in the second, Dawson Leroux restored Melfort’s two-goal lead early in the second but goals by Andrew Schaab, Albertson, and Carson Dobson while killing a penalty put the Hawks up 4-3. Melfort tied the game late in the middle period courtesy Leroux’s second of the game.

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The Mustangs took over in the third period outshooting Nipawin 20-6 and capping the scoring with a pair of goals from Noah Wilson and Tkachuk. Kozun said the Hawks were down in manpower due to more injuries, but players need to battle through diversity.

“We’re down to nine forwards, guys are getting a lot of ice time, there is no excuses. That’s just more ice time for guys to show what they got, tonight we had too many passengers and not enough bus drivers,” Kozun said.

Chase Hamm suffered the loss, making 37 saves on 43 shots, Melfort starter James Venne allowed four goals on 14 shots, he was pulled for Joel Favreau, he was great in relief stopping all 12 shots he faced getting the win.

Kozun said the shorthanded goals were nice to see as was the offence but giving up six is not a typical night for a Nipawin hockey club that prides itself on defense.

“Not at all, that’s completely unacceptable for us,” he stated “It doesn’t matter who’s out there. You can’t win games giving up six goals, it’s just not possible.”

Melfort’s win has vaulted them to third in the SJHL standings, the Hawks have now slipped to 10th, tied with the Melville Millionaires. The teams will meet again Saturday in Nipawin to cap a stretch of four straight meetings dating back to Dec. 18. Kozun said Nipawin is getting into must-win territory to kick off the new year.

“Tomorrow is a huge game; we need a better effort than tonight. Like I said Bart and I will take the heat for this one because we obviously didn’t have them ready coming out of the Christmas break. We’ll look in the mirror, take onus on that and have them ready to go for tomorrow,” he said.

Face-off is 7:30 p.m. at the Centennial Arena.

–

clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork

by Clark Stork
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