Nipawin wins regular season
With just a brief moment to savour the victory of taking the league title for a second year running, (especially with Melfort and the Battlefords hot on their heels), the SJHL’S Nipawin Hawks are now looking ahead to the playoffs, waiting for the end of the survivor series to know who they take on.
The Hawks ended their season on March 5 with a 2-1 victory over the Melville Millionaires, giving them 81 points. The same night, Melfort lost to Flin Flon, which meant they dropped to fourth place (78 points). The Battlefords were ranked second with 80 points.
“We’ve won the regular season, but that is the regular season,” said coach and GM Doug Johnson. “We still have to win 12 games. With the way the guys improve day in and day out and understand what it takes to have success, we have a lot of confidence in our guys going forward.”
Success so far has been a true team effort, with only goaltenders Declan Hobbs and Patrick Pugliese making it into the top ranks of the league.
The team has not had any skaters in the top 35 of the SJHL, but that has worked to their advantage.
“It’s definitely scoring by committee this year,” said Johnson. “On our back-end we don’t have a guy like Carter Doerksen or Josh Mcdougall to solidify the defence.”
However, the total defensive line is more solid this year, Johnson said. “We’re way deeper from one to seven this year than we were last year.”
Forwards are also deeper as a unit, he said.
“That’s led to our success and helped our overall, because it’s tough for teams to game plan against us.”
While the final scores have still been in favour of the Hawks much of the time in the last few months, the wins are often a 2-1 final score, but the volume of shots taken has increased.
“I don’t think anything’s changed,” Johnson said. “Every year your personnel change and you have to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. The guys are getting a little more comfortable so they’re throwing more shots on net. They’re more comfortable with how we play so we’re possessing the puck more, which adds to the shots.”
Hobbs has been ranked the top goalie in the SJHL almost every week, replaced several times by upcoming California native Patrick Pugliese.
Hobbs — in his last year of junior play — said his experience will help him game plan for the playoffs.
“Preparation is huge,” he said. “Especially in playoffs. Post-game routines like stretching out, hitting cold tubs and making sure my body’s in the right place so I can perform the next day at the same level.”
With a young team this year and a limited amount of returning players from last year’s championship roster, it will be up to the veterans to help focus the younger players, he said.
“I’ve been through it so I know what it takes and part of being a leader and an older guy on the team is taking that and transferring that to the younger guys and making sure they’re doing their jobs and keeping their bodies healthy.” Nipawin Journal