By Clark Stork

Memorable Moment

Fouquette about it, Hawks beat Mustangs in overtime

Feb 20, 2022 | 1:54 PM

Recent positive results may be too little, too late for the Nipawin Hawks in their hopes of making the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) playoffs, but the team has other ideas.

Saturday at the Centennial Arena, 17-year-old rookie defenseman Tre Fouquette played the role of overtime hero in a 2-1 win over the Melfort Mustangs to keep the club alive in the chase for the final postseason position. Fouquette said the team is feeling great after taking two of three games this week that pitted the Hawks against a trio of the SJHL’s top-five teams.

“Yeah, for sure. We definitely worked hard and it was great to get another win,” he said.

Beginning the week with a 4-2 upset over Flin Flon on the road Nipawin Tuesday the Hawks fell flat in a 6-0 romp courtesy of Humboldt on Friday at the ‘cage.’ The Hawks appeared to be determined to close-parent billet weekend on a high note showing a more involved effort.

Bryden Kiesman opened the scoring in the second period with his third goal as a Hawk. The 1-0 lead lasted about 10 minutes before Melfort’s Dawson Leroux tied the game at 1-1.

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Despite Nipawin’s heavy shot advantage of 30 to 14 through 60 minutes of play the game needed overtime, Fouquette beat James Venne with a wrist shot from the high slot for the win and his first career SJHL goal. He said the team the team was set to down their archrivals.

“Overtime is always intense and it’s very high-paced and you have to know where your guy is. This overtime was going good, I got in the slot and buried it,” he said.

Fouquette added that the moment was one he has thought about previously since he has a Western Hockey Goal for the Prince Albert Raiders.

“I have been thinking about it, I always wanted an SJHL goal too to complete that package,” he said.

Venne was credited with 30 saves in the loss for the Mustangs. Harmon Laser-Hume won his second straight game making 14 saves in the game.

The win was a fitting end to the Hawks annual parent-billet weekend that included a third jersey auction and social. Fouquette said winning at home in front of all the players’ families and billets makes the win more special.

“It means a lot, family is really important when it comes to hockey, they got us here. It’s nice when they can see us play, especially when we win,” he concluded.

The jersey auction raised over $15,000 for the Hawks scholarship fund.

Nipawin sits 10 points back of the final playoff spot with seven games remaining. Next up is a trip to Flin Flon to face the Bombers at the Whitney Forum. The Hawks have won twice in northern Manitoba this season.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork