The Hawks swarm Alex Johnson after scoring the shootout winning goal Saturday over Kindersley in Rosetown during a neutral site SJHL matchup. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Streaking

Hawks outlast Klippers in shootout win

Jan 22, 2023 | 11:20 AM

The Nipawin Hawks needed a shootout Saturday, but the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) club won their fifth straight game edging Kindersley 3-2.

Playing Rosetown, their second neutral site game of the week Nipawin was looking for their fifth road win of the 2023 calendar year as well as fifth victory overall.

Braxton Buckberger opened the scoring in the first period giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Kindersley tied the score 1-1 before the opening period ended.

Buckberger scored again in the second period restoring Nipawin’s one-goal lead that stood until the third period. The Klippers battled back in the third and tied the game again forcing overtime. Neither team could score in the three-on-three five-minute period. The game went to a shootout that the Hawks scored in all three attempts to secure the win. Forward Alex Johnson said the team is riding high on their longest winning streak of the year.

“It’s good to get some wins on the board and catch some of the teams ahead of us and make some room behind us,” Johnson said after the game. “The boys are playing pretty good, we’re finding ways to win which is the best part of it all.”

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Alex Ochitwa, Carson Dobson, and Johnson scored for Nipawin in the shootout, Hawks’ netminder Jackson Fellner stopped one of two attempts. Johnson scored the winning goal not allowing Kindersley a chance to stay alive in the game. The 20-year-old Calgary product was confident with the game on his stick.

“I am confident in Fellns [Fellner] that he is going to back me up in case I miss, so I felt pretty free out there to do what I needed to do and luckily I put in home,” he explained.

Cody Jaman made 31 stops through 65 minutes of action in the Kindersley net, the 18-year-old Airdrie, Alta. product didn’t make a save in the shootout.

The win was Nipawin’s third of the year over the Klippers with two more games between the two before the season ends.

The Hawks are home to Yorkton on Tuesday. Johnson said getting back home for just the third time since the Christmas break is exciting to the red-hot Hawks.

“Playing in front of the fans, we haven’t done that a lot since the break. It’s going to be great to see the support we get there. Again, find ways to win games and keep rolling,” he concluded.

The Hawks are in seventh place in the SJHL, and a dozen points clear of the ninth place team.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ClarkStork