The Hawks faced off with Estevan on Sunday afternoon at Affinity Place. (Image Credit: Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Road woes

Hawks return empty handed from southern swing

Feb 16, 2026 | 1:37 PM

For the second time this Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season the Hawks are returned to Nipawin without a point from a southern road trip.

Earlier this year Nipawin lost both games in Estevan and Weyburn, this weekend the result was the same as the Hawks fell 3-2 in Weyburn and 5-2 in Estevan Sunday afternoon.

Taking on the Bruins at Affinity Place, the Hawks spotted Estevan a 3-0 first period lead and Nipawin never caught up despite closing the gap to one in the second period on goals by Braeden Jockims and Finley Radloff. Head Coach Tad Kozun was not impressed with his team’s performance in the matinee matchup.

“Just wasn’t good enough,” he admitted on the postgame show on 750 Beach Radio. “Our penalty kill wasn’t good enough, we were on our heels, we didn’t want to do anything. We made our adjustments and stifled the rest of the powerplays, but our big time players must start being our big time players and that’s the difference right now.”

A major concern for Nipawin, and arguably the main reason the Hawks couldn’t pick up points was an anemic powerplay of their own. Nipawin had half a dozen man advantages in each game including a two man advantage in both games, albeit Sunday’s five-on-three was a shortened version. Kozun made no excuses, he said going scoreless in a dozen chances isn’t acceptable.

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“You can’t expect to win hockey games when you get that many opportunities. In the second period I thought we started to move our feet, generate some chances, but we’re not shooting pucks, it just wasn’t there today,” he added.

The Hawks still returned home in fourth place in the SJHL standings and will be back on home ice for three games this week including the Bruins returning on Friday. Kozun said the coaching staff will adjust and reset for a massive trio of games at the ‘Cage.’

“You can’t take your foot off the gas; every game is important right now. We get to se them in our barn again Friday, but we can’t overlook La Ronge Wednesday. We’ve got a job to do and we’ve got to be ready to go. We will break down the video, find the details we need to clean up and get back to work Tuesday,” he concluded.

Faceoff versus the Ice Wolves is 7 p.m., the game is the make up date from a postponement on Dec. 17.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com