By Aaron Schulze

Hawks fall to Mustangs twice

Oct 15, 2018 | 9:45 AM

The Nipawin Hawks were able to score more goals than they did in Melfort on Friday Oct. 12 during their 2-0 loss against the Mustangs.

Unfortunately, it was one goal, and not enough to win the rubber match against the Mustangs the next night in Nipawin.

With the 3-1 loss, the Hawks could only put one goal past Mustangs goaltender Hunter Arps in two games, where Nipawin local Caleb Greenfield fired a wicked wrist shot.

The x-factor for the Hawks offence struggling over the weekend was their power play, where head coach Doug Johnson’s squad went zero for 15 in the two games.

“Obviously Melfort’s PK did a nice job,” Johnson told northeastNOW. “But we’ve got to look in the mirror and realize we have to be a little smarter. As the coach, I’ve got to do a better job and get better personnel out there and figure that stuff out.”

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Johnson credited his team for their effort level and not giving up when trailing, but mentioned discipline, goal scoring, and the penalty kill as things to work on, as three of the Mustangs’ five goals over the weekend were on the power play.

One positive during the weekend was the play of the Hawks’ goaltenders Declan Hobbs and Patrick Pugliese. The duo only allowed five goals against in two games against a Mustangs offence, scoring an average 4.44 goals per game coming into the weekend first in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

“I think we have the two best goalies in the league,” Johnson said. “We’ll keep running them both out there and we’re going to have to rely on them this year because we’re not the most gifted offensively right now.”

Johnson isn’t wrong about the offensive struggles. The Hawks 26 goals in 11 games is last in the SJHL, and the struggles weren’t just from this weekend. In September where they went a perfect 6-0, the Hawks scored 20 goals, averaging 3.33 goals per games.

Since October, the Hawks have one win in five games (1-3-1), scoring just five goals.

October has seen the Hawks go from the top team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings to third in the Sherwood Division, trailing the Mustangs by one point, and the division-leading Flin Flon Bombers by four.

The good news for the Hawks is they’ll have more chances to end the goal-scoring drought, as they begin a three-game road trip over the weekend, starting Friday, Oct. 19 in Weyburn.

aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow