Reid Lalonde awaits his teammates to celebrate the Nipawin Hawks win Saturday at the Centennial Arena. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Opening Night

Hawks open home schedule with a bang

Sep 18, 2022 | 1:32 PM

There was plenty of noise Saturday night at the Centennial Arena for the Nipawin Hawks 2022 – 23 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) home opener and it wasn’t the Flin Flon Bombers offense exploding.

Following a 7-4 loss to La Ronge on the road Friday and a delayed return home the Hawks soared to a 5-2 win on home ice to salvage their opening weekend.

After a first period that saw no goals, Nipawin took off in the second scoring four times. Joel Mabin scored his first of the season to break the deadlock, Braxton Buckberger replied with a pair of goals and Bryden Kiesman also notched his second goal of the weekend. Buckberger said opening night was electric at the “Cage.”

“It’s awesome to get two points to start the season off at home,” Buckberger said after being named player of the game. “Especially after yesterday, we didn’t have our best game in La Ronge. We came home, got the Cage bumpin’ and played Hawks hockey.”

Flin Flon did get on the scoreboard late in the second with a powerplay goal from Cole Dupereault to make it 4-1 Nipawin at the break.

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Dupereault scored early again in the third, but the Hawks diffused any Bomber comeback chance and Hawks Captain Maguire Ratzlaff sealed the win with an empty net goal with just over a minute remaining. Buckberger scored in Friday night’s game as well and has three tallies already this year. He was quick to pass credit to his teammates.

“I have been getting fed by my teammates and the puck is finding the back of the net which is great. Everything is clicking right now; I think our offence is looking better this year. It definitely helps the confidence,” he said.

Reid Lalonde made his SJHL debut in goal for the Hawks making 24 saves in the win, former Hawk Harmon Laser-Hume suffered the loss against his former club allowing four goals on 23 shots.

The Hawks await the reigning SJHL champions for back-to-back game son Tuesday and Wednesday against Estevan. Face off is set for 7 p.m. both nights.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork