The hawks and Klippers meet one more time this SJHL season Friday in Nipawin. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Continuing to build

Klippers touch down in Nipawin for final matchup with Hawks

Feb 28, 2025 | 11:25 AM

The Hawks and Kindersley Klippers will conclude their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season series on Friday in Nipawin.

The previous three matchups have all been won by Kindersley by a combined score of 13-3. The teams first met in September in Nipawin, a 4-2 Klippers victory, Nipawin was in Kindersley in January and fell 2-0 and 7-1. The Hawks have been playing better lately, they are 6-3-0-1 in their previous 10 games.

Head Coach Tad Kozun said his players have continued to play solid hockey despite not going to the playoffs.

“I have really liked the way we have played in February; it’s been our best month of the year. We are taking the strides forward, I thought Wednesday maybe we took a little step back, but we’ve been playing a lot of hockey with a short roster right now guys have been playing a lot of minutes, and we got away from what’s been making us successful. We got back to work yesterday, and we know what the task is tonight,” Kozun said.

Kindersley watched La Ronge pull to within two points of them for the final SJHL playoff spot with Wednesday’s win over the Hawks at the Centennial Arena, the Ice Wolves await Kindersley for two games in La Ronge after the Klippers take on the Hawks. Kozun said Kindersley will be treating Friday’s game like a postseason game, so the Hawks will answer that intensity.

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“We know this is a playoff game for them essentially so it’s going to be a playoff game for us,” he said. “We have to see what type of battle level we have coming into a game like this and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Nipawin has just five games left, three at the ‘Cage’ and two on the road. Kozun said continuing to finish strong is the mindset for his group that will have just two players aging out this season.

“We are never going to wave the white flag, we’re obviously out of it, but we’re playing some good hockey, and we want to continue that. When next year comes around, we’re ready to hit the ground running and we know exactly where we are and know the type of team we can be,” Kozun concluded.

Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com