Austen Flaman (No. 8 black and gold) was one of two players the Nipawin Hawks traded during the Jan. 10 CJHL Trade Deadline. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

Hawks Trade Deadline

‘The reward outweighs the risks’: Hawks make two core trades during win streak

Jan 14, 2020 | 5:18 PM

Two weeks into 2020 and the Nipawin Hawks are feeling better about themselves.

Seven Hawks – goaltender Ross Hawryluk, defencemen Evan Bortis, Max Johnson, and Jack Lenchyshyn, and forwards Michael Makarenko, Jordan Simoneau, and Jake Tremblay – were selected to participate in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) / Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) Showcase.

As a team, the Hawks are on a five-game win streak. They took down top teams such as the first place Battlefords North Stars and division rivals Melfort Mustangs and La Ronge Ice Wolves during that stretch.

The latest weekend of games – 7-1 and 8-2 wins during a home and home series with the Ice Wolves – have been the most emphatic of the Hawks’ win streak.

“If any coach expects to win 7-1 or 8-2, they’re full of it,” Hawks Head Coach Doug Johnson told northeastNOW. “We expected a good showing and were hoping for the two wins, but we knew the guys had to show up and work for it. They did and we got rewarded; probably in more of a convincing style than we imagined but sometimes you catch teams in their off nights. You get what you work for and not what you hope for, and they definitely worked for it.”

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Johnson said the vibe around the Hawks has changed compared to the end of 2019, especially after the Jan. 10 Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) Trade Deadline.

“I think everybody can rest easier knowing this is what our team is,” he said.

The Hawks didn’t hesitate making trades in 2019; bringing in four new players and shipping out five during the regular season.

However, none were as big as the two trades made before the deadline.

On Jan. 9, the Hawks traded right wing Austen Flaman – their leading scorer in 2018-19 – to the Portage Terriers in Manitoba in exchange for forward Riley Bruce. Flaman scored seven goals and 15 assists in 37 games with the Hawks in 2019-20 and had one more season of Junior A hockey eligibility. Bruce scored 25 goals and 13 assists in 34 games with the Terries this season and is in his final season of junior hockey.

“We never searched to trade Austen,” Johnson said. “It was something that was proposed. We felt if we were really going to make a run for it this year, then it was a trade we needed to make that gives us a bigger body and more of a scorer. It hurts us for the future, but we talked about [how] the reward outweighs the risks.”

The other move came on the Jan. 10 deadline day with the Hawks sending 20-year-old center Zach Cox to the Whitecourt Wolverines in Alberta for 18-year-old right winger Greyson Stewart and a player development fee.

Cox returned to Nipawin early in the 2019-20 season after spending the previous two seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. He scored 13 goals and 10 assists in 35 games with the Hawks this season.

Stewart scored five goals and six assists in 28 games split between the Wolverines and the Camrose Kodiaks in 2019-20 before the Hawks acquired him. Johnson admitted the initial return on paper doesn’t look as strong as the Flaman-Bruce deal but said there’s a large offensive upside for Stewart.

One of the Wolverines’ current assistant coaches, Devin Windle, spent two and a half seasons alongside Johnson on the Hawks bench.

“[Devin] said [Stewart] would have the best hands for many players he’d work with [while in Nipawin],” Johnson said. “Not necessarily the biggest or fastest, but really good hands, a good finish, and a quick release. We feel we need somebody to help us put the puck in the back of the net; a true sniper. We felt we did that not only with Greyson, but also with Riley.”

The Hawks sit sixth in the SJHL standings with 48 points (23-17-2) in 42 games. Their next three games are against the top team in the Sherwood Division – the Flin Flon Bombers.

The first of three games take place on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Arena.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow