Tempers flared at the end of the Nipawin Hawks and Yorkton Terriers game Sunday at Westland Arena. (Image Credit: Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Got to find a way

Late Terriers goal sinks Hawks in Yorkton

Feb 2, 2026 | 11:16 AM

The Nipawin Hawks were edged 4-3 by the Yorkton Terriers in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) play on Sunday afternoon.

Facing off for the third time this season and first in Yorkton, the Hawks were seeking their first win versus the Terriers this year who have beaten Nipawin twice already. After a goalless first period, the Terriers opened a 2-0 lead in the second period. Mason Karakochuk cut the lead in half late in the second with his 10th goal of the year.

Nipawin tied the game at 2-2 early in the second period after Sean Shiels notched his sixth goal of his rookie campaign.

The deadlock was short lived, Yorkton retook the lead under three minutes later, but 20 seconds after that Karakochuk scored another to tie the game 3-3.

Just past the halfway point of the third period Yorkton took the lead again and never relinquished it handing the Hawks their third loss in the season series with one game left. Head Coach Tad Kozun said his club played a solid road game but just came up short.

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“I thought we had our looks tonight and just didn’t capitalize on the looks we had,” he said on the postgame show.

Yorkton possesses the SJHL’s top line consisting of Jye Zawatsky, Gabriel Courchesne, and William Leonard. Between the three they have 70 goals this year. Leonard scored four times versus the Hawks on Jan. 16 in Nipawin. Kozun focused on that group and did hold them in check until the third period. Courchesne scored the third goal, Leonard got the game winner. Kozun said they helped the Terriers with errors of their own.

“They didn’t get many shots tonight, I mean we didn’t either and that’s probably my biggest thing is we had the chance to shoot, and we didn’t or we missed high and wide and that gave them a lot of breakouts out of their end instead of creating that chaos at the net or getting that faceoff. Overall, it was a good hockey game,” he added.

With the Terries win Yorkton leapfrogged Nipawin for fourth place in the SJHL standings while the Hawks are now fifth overall. Nipawin has just three wins in 14 games against the four teams in front of them in the standings. Weyburn is one of those clubs, the Hawks are winless in two games versus the Red Wings. The Hawks host Weyburn on Wednesday in their next action. Kozun stopped short of saying must win game but it’s crucial.

“We’ve got to be ready and just continue to build here,” he said. “I didn’t think we played bad today, just a couple bad breaks and didn’t capitalize on our chances and they did.”

Wednesday’s faceoff with the Red Wings is 7 p.m. at the Centennial Arena.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com