The Hawks earned a point in a hard fought 4-3 shootout loss versus the Battlefords Tuesday in Nipawin. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Late Surge

Late game heroics earn Hawks point in shootout loss

Nov 27, 2024 | 11:50 AM

Carter Anderson scored with 10 seconds left in regulation Tuesday forcing overtime earning the Hawks a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the North Stars in Nipawin.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) teams faced off in a rescheduled game from Nov. 19 at the Centennial Arena.

The Hawks opened the scoring courtesy rookie forward Konnor Watson who has four career SJHL goals. The Battlefords responded and scored twice in the first taking a 2-1 lead after the first and a 3-1 lead into the third period after adding another in the middle stanza. Hawks Head Coach Tad Kozun felt his team was the better club over 65 minutes of hockey.

“They dictated most of the second period then I thought in the third period, especially in the last 10 minutes we had our feet moving again, creating opportunities, and obviously we get it to a shootout where you need a goal,” he said.

Mason Karakochuk scored his sixth goal of the season in the third cutting the lead to 3-2, Anderson now has seven on the campaign after burying a rebound late past Connor Baumbach.

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Eight players shot in the shootout, only Braden Nienaber scored giving the North Stars the victory. Kozun the team played simple and put forth a solid effort, something that needs to continue.

“We just have to keep building off this now,” he said. “If we play like we did in the first and third periods, that’s how we have to play. We have to play Hawks hockey, we have to be blue collar, we’re not going to score 10 goals a game, we have to find ways to win these close hockey games.”

The Hawks busy pre-Christmas schedule continues with two more games this weekend, the Yorkton Terriers visit Nipawin Friday, the team hits the road to Humboldt on Saturday. Kozun said he’s excited for a consistent schedule leading up to the late December hiatus.

“It’s kudos to the guys that kept battling back, they never quit, never lost confidence in each other and we stuck together. We must continue to do that here the rest of the week and be ready for Friday,” he concluded.

Faceoff is 7 p.m. at the ‘Cage’ versus the Terriers.