By Aaron Schulze

Nipawin Hawks

Hawks get point, fall to Klippers 2-1 in overtime

Feb 13, 2019 | 5:06 PM

There’s good news and bad news for the Nipawin Hawks after their 2-1 overtime loss on Tuesday, Feb. 12 against the Kindersley Klippers.

Good news: The Hawks picked up a point late in the season as they attempt to clinch first overall in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

Bad news: The Klippers are the team right behind them, and now trail the Hawks by five points with three games in hand.

Kindersley opened the scoring in the first period when Ty Enns and Kyle Bosch finished off a give and go, although the shots were even at 10-10 as the Hawks appeared to be more prepared than Sunday’s 4-3 loss against the Battlefords North Stars.

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It was in the second period where Devin Windle, the Hawks assistant coach, admitted to northeastNOW the Klippers took over.

“We turned a lot of puck over the neutral zone, over handled pucks, played slow, we made it easy for Kindersley to defend against,” Windle said.

However, Windle said one game defining moment happened in the second period. Hawks goaltender Declan Hobbs stopped a two on one Klippers scoring chance after a breakdown on backdoor coverage.

“They go up 2-0 and that could be a challenge for us to battle back from,” he said. “Instead it’s 1-0. That was huge for us.

“I thought he was calm, cool, and collected. His rebound control was pretty spot on, he was vocal, he was working with our D-men, moving pucks, helping the rush to move up ice again, he was what he’s been all along for us this year.”

In the third period, the Hawks showed the same competitiveness they showed in the first and were rewarded when 16-year-old rookie Jaxsen Wiebe wristed in the puck off the rush.

The Hawks didn’t just tie it, they nearly won it. Jordan Simoneau skated through the middle and backhanded the puck off the crossbar, as if the game was meant to go to overtime.

In overtime, the Hawks controlled possession off the draw and had the puck below the Klippers net, before a rush the other way sealed the game 51 seconds in.

The Hawks will have 10 days to rest and go over film to prepare for another game with the Klippers at Centennial Arena on Friday, Feb. 22. Windle already has some ideas on how to address the issues from the first game.

“If you look at tonight’s game, I think most people would have predicted some sort of a one-goal, maybe a two-goal spread at most,” he said. “It was going to be a low-scoring affair, so it was everything we thought it was going to be.

“They won the house tonight.They scored two goals right on top of our paint, so that’s going to be an area that we’re going to have to bear down if we want to have two points next time,” he said.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow