The Hawks and Bombers battled in FLin Flon Friday night during SJHL action at the Whitney Forum. (Clark Stork/northeastNOW Staff)

By Clark Stork

Not so special teams

Hawks special teams falter in Flin Flon

Jan 6, 2024 | 12:02 PM

Nipawin Hawks Head Coach Tad Kozun has praised his hockey teams’ power-play and penalty killing units all season long, but Friday in Flin Flon the collective groups were on the hook for a 4-2 loss to the Bombers.

The two clubs occupy the top two rankings in each category in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) with Flon Flon ranking number one in both power-play and penalty killing efficiency, but the Hawks are right there until Friday’s trip to the Whitney Forum. The Bombers scored all four of their goals on the man advantage, the Hawks failed to score on six power-plays of their own, including two five-on-three advantages and another two man advantage with Damon Cunningham on the bench for an extra attacker late in the game. Kozun said the team was great at even strength, but allowing the gaols against was unfortunate.

“I really liked our game five-on-five,” he said on the postgame show of Duplex Furniture and Appliances Hawks Hockey on 750 Beach Radio. “It’s obvious our penalty kill let us down and we didn’t get the power-play goals. When you have three five-on-threes you need to capitalize on one or two of them.”

Kozun added that the team took the positive out of the game where the Hawks outshot the Bombers 41-36 and kept the powerful group off the scoresheet at even strength.

“We still believe in this group and the big thing is we will get back to work tomorrow and I know we are putting the work in,” Kozun added.

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Nipawin sits two games under the .500 mark and fifth in the SJHL standings and will host La Ronge Saturday before returning to northern Manitoba next Friday for another matchup with the Bombers.

Saturday’s showdown with the Ice Wolves will cap a three game week for the Hawks that began Wednesday with a win over Kindersley. If Nipawin can hold off La Ronge after their win over Melfort Friday the week will see the Hawks grab four of six points, much to the appeasement of their coach.

“Every team in this league is going to be a hard out from here on out, everybody went home at Christmas and regrouped and came back rejuvenated and I think our guys are doing the same thing. We have to get out of here, get some rest, and get ready to go for Saturday night,” Kozun concluded.

Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Centennial Arena.

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clark.stork@pattisonmedia.com

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