Conor Ryan celebrates his first goal as a Hawk against his former team, the Flin Flon Bombers on Saturday in Nipawin. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Getting Closer

Familiar fate for Hawks versus Flin Flon

Nov 10, 2024 | 2:59 PM

The Hawks blueprint for Saturday’s result was a familiar one as Nipawin had opportunities but came up short against the Flin Flon Bombers in a 5-2 loss.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) club was a much different team than the one that gave up 63 shots to the Bombers in the season opener on Sept. 21, but Nipawin’s losing streak to Flin Flon reached 13 games. Nipawin Head Coach Tad Kozun said he has seen growth from his young roster.

“I thought our first two periods were really good, then I thought in the third we got away from our game a little bit and they took advantage of the mistakes we were making. Those things can’t happen, but we are definitely taking steps in the right direction here,” he said after the game.

Nipawin took the lead in the first period, hometown captain Finley Radloff scored his fourth goal of the year, and third on the powerplay, the Hawks took the lead to the dressing room after one period.

Flin Flon tied the game early in the second on a powerplay of their own, with five minutes left in the middle stanza, the teams scored three goals a 45 second span, former Bomber Conor Ryan scored his first for Nipawin against his former club, but the Hawks trailed 3-2 after the second and couldn’t claw back any closer, losing their 13^th game of the year.

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Special teams played a factor again in the loss, Nipawin’s powerplay scored once in seven chances, however Kozun admitted they could have had a couple more on the man advantage.

“I thought in the second period we had some really good chances; their goalie made some big saves, and we couldn’t put it in the back of the net. I thought our powerplay took some big steps today. If we stick with it good things are going to happen,” he added.

Saturday’s game was the first in 10 days for the Hawks, the team will now take another five days off before meeting Melfort Friday and the Broncos in Humboldt on Saturday. Kozun said the group returned from the hiatus fresh and he’s looking forward to another stretch of practice before a stretch of seven games in 15 days to close November.

“We get another good week of practice here before we start playing a lot of hockey games in a short time leading into December. We have to get back to work, clean up a couple things, and prepare for next weekend,” Kozun concluded.

Both games can be heard on 750 Beach Radio starting 15 minutes ahead of faceoff.