(Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

Hawks Playoff Preview

Hawks confident ahead of first round series with North Stars

Mar 5, 2020 | 2:17 PM

Entering the 2020 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) post-season as the eighth seed wasn’t expected for the Nipawin Hawks.

One year removed from finishing first overall in 2018-19, the Hawks finished the 2019-20 regular season with 64 points (30-24-3-1) in 58 games played.

Their prize: a first round, best-of-seven series against the reigning SJHL champions and first-place Battlefords North Stars.

Hawks Head Coach Doug Johnson called his team’s regular season “a little bit of a disappointment,” especially after they started the season 6-0. Nipawin went 12-16-2 the rest of 2019 and turned the corner in 2020. The Hawks went 12-8-1-1 once the new year hit, including a 9-1-1 stretch that began with a 5-4 OT win over their rival Melfort Mustangs.

“We weren’t able to build any momentum, or increase our work ethic or habits,” Johnson told northeastNOW. “After Christmas we did a nice job. The last two or three weeks we really got hammered with injuries and suspensions and lost some of our mojo. We just have to work to get it back, but people seem to be healthy and ready now.”

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A key injury the Hawks suffered late was their captain, Jake Tremblay. The 2000-born center was the second-highest scoring Hawk in 2019-20, with 44 points (19 goals and 25 assists) in 49 games, despite missing the final nine games of the season with a hand injury.

What Tremblay brings to the Hawks is more than just the scoring or skill; it’s his defensive ability, dominance in the faceoffs, leadership skills, and competitiveness. The Hawks went 3-5-1 without Tremblay in the final nine games.

“I think he’s one of the most underrated players in the league,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t just Jake at the end of the year, it was (Jordan) Simoneau suspended and [injured], and other guys banged up and suspended. We just lost so much depth that you don’t get any chemistry to your lines and you’re scrambling night in and night out just to figure out what’s going to be best.

“Jake was huge for us. That was a big loss, but it was just everything on top of that too that factored into it. You lose one of the best players in the league and it’s a tough blow.”

Johnson confirmed Tremblay will play in the series against the North Stars.

Tale of the tape

Nipawin Hawks; 8^th in the SJHL, 30-24-3-1, 64 points

• Goals For: 183 (7^th)
• Goals Against: 170 (3^rd)
• Power Play: 18.2 per cent (6^th)
• Penalty Kill: 79.2 per cent (11^th)

Battlefords North Stars; 1^st in the SJHL, 45-11-2-0, 92 points

• Goals For: 226 (2^nd)
• Goals Against: 150 (1^st)
• Power Play: 19.5 per cent (5^th)
• Penalty Kill: 86.3 per cent (1^st)

Head to Head – Battlefords: 5-1-0

1. Battlefords 3, Nipawin 2 – Oct. 18
2. Battlefords 3, Nipawin 2 – Oct. 19
3. Battlefords 6, Nipawin 5 – Oct. 29
4. Battlefords 5, Nipawin 1 – Nov. 9
5. Nipawin 4, Battlefords 1 – Jan. 8
6. Battlefords 3, Nipawin 1 – Feb. 16

Despite losing five of six against the North Stars in the regular season series, the Hawks still feel confident ahead, especially with three of the games early in the season being decided by one goal.

“There’s a lot of pride and experience within the room,” Johnson said. “Fifty-eight games said we’re the eighth best team in the league, but I think if you polled a lot of coaches in the league, it’d be an anomaly and it wouldn’t be how people felt about our team. If we get everybody going, we’re going to be a dangerous team.

“Yes, Battlefords is very good. But if we don’t have the confidence or swagger, we’re beaten already. The guys have seen video and they know we messed some games up early against Battlefords, and they’re going to be ready and hungry.”

Johnson said puck management and forechecking the North Stars’ defence hard will be crucial if the Hawks want to win the series. The North Stars had three of the SJHL’s top-nine scoring defencemen in 2019-20, including the league’s Defenceman of the Year in Matthew Fletcher.

Game One between the Hawks and North Stars is on Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in North Battleford. 1050 CJNB and cjnb.ca in North Battleford will broadcast the series.

The first game from Centennial Arena in Nipawin will be Game Three on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow