Hawks rattle the Pistons in ‘the Cage,’ tie up ANAVET Cup series
After Tuesday’s 6-2 defeat, Brandan Arnold said his Nipawin Hawks were going to come to the Centennial Arena in Nipawin “angry” and ready to tie up the series.
They accomplished both as Arnold had a two goals and two helpers in the Hawks’ 5-2 win over the Steinbach Pistons to square up the ANAVET Cup series at 2-2. Had they lost, they would have entered Friday’s Game 5 at the Cage down three-games-to-one.
“It’s key in the playoffs. You never want to be down like that [3-1] and we knew that,” Arnold said, who now has five goals and 10 points in four ANAVET Cup games. “We knew if we lost this game, it’s pretty hard to come back from a 3-1 deficit. We just stepped up and tied this series. We got some guys going and some guys got on the board, which is nice. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going for Friday.”
One of those guys “getting on the board” was Hawks’ assistant captain Michael Grant. He scored his first of the ANAVET Cup two minutes into the second period on the power play—which eventually turned out to be the game winner.