Nipawin product Finley Radloff has made the club as a 17-year-old and signed with the Hawks Tuesday. (submitted photo/Nipawin Hawks)

By Clark Stork

Dream come true

Radloff signs with Hawks; team downs Mustangs in SJHL pre-season play

Sep 7, 2022 | 9:16 AM

The Hawks’s busy Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) pre-season continued this week with a pre-season game in Melfort on Labour Day Monday that Nipawin won 4-1.

Carson Dobson opened the scoring for the Hawks in the first period setting the tone for the win. As the longest tenured player on the club, Dobson said likes what he sees early on this season.

“I think we’re in a really good spot going into the season right now,” Dobson told northeastNOW after the game at the Northern Lights Palace. “Lots of energy, lots of new guys, returning guys, everyone is looking good and I’m excited for the season for sure.”

Dawson Brace, Finley Radloff, and Zander Stewart all scored in Monday night’s victory. The Hawks have a 2-1 record in the exhibition season while scoring 11 goals. The club scored just 128 in the SJHL last year, a league low. Dobson said goal-scoring hopefully isn’t a concern this season.

“There weren’t a whole lot of games where we put up a ton of goals last year so seeing this early on is a bright spot for sure,” he said.

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The Hawks will conclude the pre-season Friday at the Centennial Arena when the Mustangs visit, the regular season opens on Sept. 16 in La Ronge before Nipawin welcomes Flin Flon on Sept. 17 for their home opener.

General Manager Tad Kozun continues to tweak his roster ahead of the regular season.

On Tuesday the team announced local product Finley Radloff had made the team as a 17-year-old. Rodloff played a handful of SJHL games last year after the AAA under-18 season ended and has now done enough to be a full-time player.

“He played quite a few games last year and impressed,” Kozun added. “He came to training camp and flat out took a spot out from others. He’s earned the right to play with us.”

Radloff has a pair of goals in the pre-season including his goal in Melfort. His performance in that game along with camp solidified a roster spot for Radloff and not another year in under-18. Kozun said he’s excited to work with Radloff for potentially four seasons.

“He’s a guy that wants to learn, he does the right things, he’s always wanting to get better, if we can continue to go down that path, he’s going to be a heck of a player,” Kozun said.

Kozun also made a move with Humboldt to improve their defensive depth. The club acquired defenceman Lucas Perry from the Humboldt Broncos for a player development fee. Kozun said he liked what he saw from the 18-year-old Edmonton product after Nipawin played the Broncos last Friday.

“I just thought we had a need on defence, he was a high-end recruit there and we were able to acquire him, we’re pretty happy about that. He’ll come in and we will see what he’s got. We’re excited to add another player in our 2004 group and we’ll see what he can do,” Kozun said.

Perry had four goals and six assists in 37 last season in under-18 AAA with the CAC Canadians in Edmonton.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork