The Hawks and Mustangs face off in back-to-back games this weekend starting Friday in Melfort. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Rivalry renewed

Hawks and Mustangs renew rivalry at Palace on Friday

Feb 7, 2025 | 1:00 PM

The Hawks and Mustangs will battle twice this weekend as the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) rivals meet on back-to-back nights starting in Melfort Friday.

The clubs have met five times this season with Melfort winning four of the contests, Nipawin did win the last game by the score of 4-1 at the Centennial Arena on Jan. 25. The Hawks are coming off a high on Tuesday snapping a 17-game losing streak to Flin Flon with a 3-0 blanking of the Bombers.

Head Coach Tad Kozun said his group can be proud of taking down Flin Flon and snapping the Bombers 26 game point streak, but it was just one win.

“The biggest thing coming off Tuesday is we can’t just stay on that high and be satisfied with that,” Kozun said Friday morning. “We’ve got to get back to work today and know if we play that same way, we will give ourselves a chance at success every night.”

Melfort was part of Flin Flon’s impressive streak that began at the start of November falling two times in a row to the Bombers, their first consecutive losses of the season. Since then, the Mustangs have responded by beating Yorkton and Weyburn. The Mustangs have also only lost once on home ice in 19 games.

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Kozun said keeping his young group level-headed is a daily task for the Hawks’ staff.

“We talked about it after the last time we beat Melfort, we were obviously on a pretty good high and had a full week of practice. I didn’t think we played really well against Melville despite close games. Quick turnaround now since Tuesday we need to elevate our game again like we did against Flin Flon,” he said.

From a Meflort perspective, the Mustangs are 4-1-0-0 against the Hawks this season, outscoring them 19-12. After winning the first four matchups of the season, the Mustangs dropped their last game to Nipawin, something they’re keen on not repeating.

“I think lots of guys are coming back with a vengeance, obviously we don’t like losing to a division opponent like Nipawin. We have to come ready to play and bring our A-game because we took it a little easy last time and paid the price for it. We have to be way more competitive this time around,” explained Mustangs’ forward Bryson Aikens.

Faceoff Friday at the Northern Lights Palace is 7:30 p.m., and Saturday’s rematch at the ‘Cage’ is set for 7 p.m.

– with files from Ben Tompkins

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com