The Nipawin Hawks celebrate a comeback win Tuesday in Yorkton. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Comeback Kids

Ratzlaff’s hat trick leads Hawks to victory

Oct 12, 2022 | 1:06 PM

The Nipawin Hawks battled back with five goals in the third period Tuesday in Yorkton soaring to a 7-5 win over the Terriers.

Nipawin was led by their captain and now the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s (SJHL’s) leading goal scorer Maguire Ratzlaff, who scored a hattrick in the victory. The 19-year-old Abbotsford, B.C. product was quick to credit his teammates on the big night.

“It really is a character win, it’s good to see four lines rolling. We get one on the penalty kill, we get some on the powerplay, it was a very well-rounded game which was good to see,” Ratzlaff said after the game.

Coming off a 3-2 loss in Estevan last Friday the Hawks felt a change in momentum from the group’s effort in the final frame at Affinity Place despite the loss. Trailing 4-2 going into the third period in Yorkton, looking to avoid their second loss to the Terriers this year Ratzlaff said the players stayed determined, and finally the perseverance paid off.

“Stick to the process, we had some mental lapses,” he explained. “We’re going to make mistakes, Tad [Kozun, Hawks head coach] always says we’re going to make mistakes, but we have to learn from them and that’s exactly what we did.”

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The game was still 0-0 after the first period. Up until that point, Yorkton’s netminder Caleb Allan had stopped all 53 shots Nipawin threw his way, including a 41-save shutout on Sept. 28 at the SJHL Showcase. The Hawks would finally get one passed the Colorado-born rookie goalie early in the second, Alex Ochitwa beat him for his third goal of the SJHL season. Yorkton tied the game immediately after tying the score 1-1.

The Terriers got life from the goal and added three more in the period, squished in between was Ratzlaff’s first of the game.

Nipawin scored early in the third period on the powerplay from Carson Dobson and Ratzlaff tied the score 4-4 just over seven minutes into the third period. The Terriers restored their one-goal cushion with just under six minutes left. Ratzlaff wired his third of the night past Allen on the powerplay with just under three minutes remaining.

The Hawks took a late minor penalty with the score tied 5-5, but Jake Smith and Dobson teamed up for Nipawin’s first shorthanded goal of the season, which turned out to be the game-winning goal. Joel Mabin capped the scoring with an empty net goal, also while shorthanded. Ratzlaff now has 11 goals on the year, tops in the SJHL. He said the start of his season has exceeded expectations.

“Obviously some great setups from Zander [Stewart] there, yeah things are just clicking right now. I guess I will stick to whatever I’m doing,” Ratzlaff said.

Nolan McDowell got the win in goal for Nipawin making 18 saves. Stewart had three assists in the win.

Nipawin will host the Humboldt Broncos on Friday a the Centennial Arena, faceoff is 7 p.m.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork