The Hawks faced off against Kindersley Sunday afternoon at the West Central Events Centre. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Winless skid continues

Hawks return home empty handed from Kindersley

Jan 13, 2025 | 2:06 PM

The Hawks went winless in Kindersley this weekend falling 2-0 on Saturday and 7-1 on Sunday afternoon at the West Central Events Centre in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) action.

Looking for their first win of 2025, the Hawks responded with a better first period on Sunday but trailed the game 1-0 after the opening stanza. Captain Finley Radloff slapped home his 11^th goal of the season early in the second period tying the score at 1-1, but the good news for the Hawks ended there. The Klippers went on to score six unanswered goals and hand the Hawks their ninth straight loss. Assistant Coach Derek Hutton said the team didn’t improve from Saturday’s lackluster effort.

“The second and third periods, the compete level was nonexistent,” he said on the postgame show. “We were stick checking, we weren’t engaging physically. Two not very good games this weekend.”

Nipawin had a difficult week scoreboard wise, the Hawks lost 9-2 in Flin Flon on Wednesday then were outscored 9-1 in back-to-back games against the Klippers. Nipawin’s mathematical playoff hopes are facing and the club hasn’t won in a month. Hutton said the group needs to continue to try and build positivity over the final 19 games of the regular season.

“That’s the message we have been sending, yeah, we are not where we want to be this season, but we’re building a team here, we’re building a culture. The work ethic has to be consistent; we cannot leave our goaltender out high and dry like we did in the third period today,” Hutton added.

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Special teams were costly in the game as well, the Hawks didn’t score on any of their four powerplay chances and gave up two goals following a man advantage. Kindersley scored on three of four powerplays.

Nik Trakakis made in debut in goal for Nipawin after being acquired at the trade deadline. The 21-year-old made 36 saves.

The club is now off for nine days and the Hawks will host Humboldt on Jan. 21 at the Centennial Arena. The Broncos have yet to travel to Nipawin, the Hawks split their two games at the Elgar Petersen Arena earlier this year. Hutton said Nipawin’s young roster is no longer a scapegoat with 36 games played this year.

“Every single time that we step on the ice, whether it’s practice, whether it’s team workouts, whether it’s games when we are away for a weekend, being the youngest team is no longer an excuse anymore for how hard we have to work every single time we get to the rink,” he concluded.