The Nipawin Hawks and Humboldt Broncos electrified a Saturday night crowd at the Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt. (Submitted photo/Ray Whitton)

By Clark Stork

Heartbreak in Humboldt

Heartbreaker in Humboldt for Hawks

Oct 23, 2022 | 8:08 AM

The Nipawin Hawks were 12 minutes away from an upset of the Humboldt Broncos on the road and even closer to at least overtime but lost a heartbreaker 5-4 on Saturday in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) action.

Looking to bounce back from a 4-0 loss at home to Notre Dame Thursday and avenge a recent blowout at the hands of the Broncos the game didn’t start accordingly for the visitors. Humboldt needed just 53 seconds to open the scoring, but the Hawks rebounded nicely in the first period quieting the Elgar Petersen Arena crowd. Tre Fouquette scored his first of the year to tie the game, Braxton Buckberger deflected a shot from the blueline past Humboldt starter Tristan Boileau giving the Hawks a 2-1 lead after the first period. Head Coach Tad Kozun said he was ecstatic with the resiliency of his team despite the early goal.

“Obviously a tough first one and the one thing we said is don’t panic, we must continue to work. I thought we did a great job.” he said on the postgame show on Rona Nipawin Hawks Hockey.

Nipawin took a two-goal lead early in the second period and Reese Malkewich followed up a Hawks’ odd-man rush and converted his third goal of the season. Humboldt closed the gap to 3-2 before the second period concluded.

The Hawks restored their two-goal advantage in the third thanks to Carson Dobson’s sixth goal of the year; unfortunately, the lead wouldn’t hold. Humboldt answered with three straight in the final period to steal the 5-4 win.

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“I thought we actually played a good 50 minutes tonight, but you have to play the full 60 minutes if you want to be successful in this league,” Kozun continued after the game.

The loss was the Hawks third straight defeat. They are now sitting with five wins, eight regulation losses and a pair of losses in overtime and a shootout. The previous two losses at the Centennial Arena still don’t sit well with Kozun, but he said the team can build off pushing the Broncos to the brink.

“The last two games we got away from the process that I always talk about. Tonight we got back to the process, besides the last 10 minutes we let it get away. You have to continue to push forward,” he said.

Nolan McDowell backstopped the Hawks making 40 saves in the loss. Benjamin Motew picked up the win in relief for Humboldt.

Nipawin will return to ‘The Cage’ next Friday and Saturday for back-to-back games against the Weyburn Red Wings. Kozun said the team will use the week wisely and restore some faith in the hometown fans.

“We’re going to be able get back and hone in on some of the little stuff, and really take care of the powerplay, penalty killing…we can go over everything and reiterate it. We’ve got to go into our barn and redeem what we’ve done lately,” he said.

Faceoff on both nights is 7 p.m.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork