The Nipawin Hawks will rely on younger forwards such as Michael Makarenko, far right, to improve their offence for the 2019-20 SJHL season (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

Hawks Pre-Draft

Hawks looking for best player available, developing current forwards ahead of SJHL Draft

May 28, 2019 | 1:47 PM

Three days ahead of the 2019 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) Bantam Draft, the Nipawin Hawks are getting in some last minute recruiting and scouting to make sure they have all their boxes checked off.

With picks number 12, 24, 33, 34, and 36 in the first three rounds, the Hawks have a chance to stock up the cupboards with prospects who could one day wear the black and gold.

Doug Johnson, Hawks head coach, told northeastNOW he doesn’t think there’s a glaring weakness in the Hawks’ pipeline, so they’ll be looking for the best player available at each pick.

“You look at our ‘02 draft and our ‘03 drafts, there are a lot of special kids and depth between forward and defence,” Johnson said. “We’ve been able to list some kids in both age groups in the goalie position that we’re very happy with. We just want to get the best player available and the best player we feel will fit into our system and play here, not necessarily in the Western Hockey League (WHL) or out of the province.”

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Rookies have shown the ability to make an impact in their first year with the Hawks, such as forward Jaxsen Wiebe scoring 13 goals and 13 assists in 48 regular season games and two goals and five assists in seven playoff games as a 16-year-old.

For who could be the next rookie player who can break out like Wiebe, there are two Tisdale Trojans forwards in the playmaking – Kalen Ukrainetz and local Nipawin power forward Davis Chorney, along with hard-hitting Ethan Ironside from the Prince Albert Mintos and high-scoring defenseman Evan Bortis from the Saskatoon Contacts.

There will be an opportunity for some prospects to make the Hawks out of training camp, as Johnson told northeastNOW that one of their forwards has signed with his WHL team and another was dealt to the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Junior Hockey League as the future considerations in the trade for defenseman Zach Ziegler in January. The deals can’t be announced until the beginning of June.

The Hawks finished third-worst in the SJHL in scoring goals last year with 154 in 58 games, although Johnson said the progression of the Hawks’ younger forwards and having veterans back should improve their totals.

“We’re not looking to go out and make drastic changes on our forward group,” he said. “We really like what we have. You mention Michael Makarenko, Jake Tremblay, Austen Flaman, Eric Sorensen, Brodie Girod, Jeremy Bisson, Jordan Simoneau, and Carson Erhardt. That’s a heck of a group that’s returning who played big minutes for us.

“Our recruiting class, we got some dynamic, young players coming in that we’re really pushing to help our offensive side. We’re going to tweak a few things within our system and focus on a few things in practice, but we have all the faith in the world in these guys coming back to do their jobs and score more goals than we did last year.”

For players who aged out of junior hockey, the Hawks lost Arik Breton and Christian Bosa up front, captain Gage Misskey, Walker Cote, Jarrod Isley, and Colby Haugen on the backend, and starter Declan Hobbs in net.

To fill in the void left on defense, Johnson said his four returning defensemen – Ziegler, Colten Gerlib, Luke Penner, and Jack Lenchyshyn – will need to step their games up.

“Two years ago we lost Thomas Lenchyshyn, Josh McDougall, and Carter Doerksen,” he said. “Those are three huge guys that somehow and some way, guys filled what we lost. Did they replace them? No. That’s the way it is every year. You always lose players and you never replace them, you just try and fill in spots and make sure they develop.”

After a rookie season which saw him post an SJHL second-best .931 save percentage in 20 games, Patrick Pugliese is the projected number one goaltender for the Hawks next season. When asked who would be his backup, Johnson said there were the same concerns last year when finding a second goalie behind Hobbs, but they seem to do a good job in finding goaltenders.

One more change for the Hawks will be behind the bench, as assistant coach Devin Windle moved on to find another opportunity. Johnson said he knew bringing Windle aboard halfway through the 2018-19 season would be temporary, as he spent two years in Nipawin prior and was head coach of the Melville Millionaires for two seasons.

“I know I sure enjoy working with him, but he’s just looking for another opportunity and he thinks he’s found one,” Johnson said. We wish him nothing but the best.

“We know we have some great applicants and know we’re going to be making some tough decisions to fill the role.”

The SJHL Bantam Draft takes place in Nipawin on Friday, May 31.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow