The Nipawin Hawks swept a southern road swing for the first time since 2017 and registered their first lengthy winning of streak of the season last week.
As of Feb. 24 the Melfort Mustangs are still first in the SJHL and the Sherwood Division with a record of 40-4-0-1 with 31 points, nine points ahead of the Flin Flon Bombers in both the league and division. Meanwhile the La Ronge Ice Wolves are in third place with a record of 20-25-2-2 with 44 points and the Hawks are in fourth place with a record of 14-30-3-3with 34 points.
Nipawin swept their southern road trip with a 5-3 win over the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox on Sunday, Feb. 23. The game was scoreless after the first period and the Hounds led 2-0 after the second period.
Cater Anderson, Jack Janzen, Mason Karakochuk, Finley Radloff and Eric Hoiness scored for Nipawin. Hudson Kerr, Peyton Allard and Evin Bossel responded for the Hounds.
Nik Trakakis made 29 saves for Nipawin; Spencer Borsos made 30 saves for Notre Dame.
The Hawks ran their win streak to two in a row with a 7-2 win over the Estevan Bruins in Estevan on Saturday. Feb. 22. The Hawks led 3-0 after the first period and 3-1 after the second period.
Radloff had a pair of goals for the Hawks; Anderson, Karokachuk, Jack Schierau and Konnor Watson added the other Nipawin goals. Ewan Rennie and Noah Heinrich responded for the Bruins.
Gage Roberts made 32 saves for Nipawin; Beck Boiteau made 33 saves for Estevan.
Nipawin opened their southern road swing with a 7-5 win over the Weyburn Red Wings on Friday, Feb. 21 in Weyburn. The Red Wings led 1-0 after the first period and the game was tied 3-3 after the second period.
Radloff had a pair of goals for the Hawk. Watson, Karokachuk, Hoiness, Anderson and Van Taylor added the other Nipawin goals. Liam Fitzgerald had a pair of goals for the Red Wings; Jaxson Ruthven, Braigh LeGrandeur and Max Chakrabati added the other Weyburn goals.
Roberts made 41 saves for the Hawks. Angelo Zol made three saves in just over 35 minutes before being replaced by Ty Matanovich, who faced no shots for one minute and 25 seconds, Zol then went on to make another 11 saves the rest of the game.
The Ice Wolves were in Nipawin to face the Hawks on Wednesday, Feb. 26, results were not available by press time.
The Mustangs bounced back from their first overtime or shootout loss of the season with a 4-3 win over the Humboldt Broncos in Humboldt on Saturday, Feb. 22. The Broncos led 1-0 after the first period and the Mustangs led 3-1 after the second period.
Tristin Ziola had a pair of goals for Melfort; Nolan Roberts and Austin Shepherd added the other goals for Melfort. Shepherd scored the game winning goal with four seconds left in the game. Oakley McIlwain, Maddox Amaral and Kye Benoche responded for Humboldt.
Kristian Coombs made 36 saves for Melfort; Brady Holtvogt made 27 saves for the Broncos.
Melfort lost their second home game of the season with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Humboldt Broncos on Friday, Feb. 21 at the Northern Lights Palace to open a home-and-home. The loss was also Melfort’s first overtime or shootout loss of the season.
The Mustangs led 2-1 after the first period and trailed 3-2 after the second period. Benoche and Landen Stromme scored for Humboldt in the three-round shootout.
Logan Belton tied the game at 19:36 of the third period for Melfort; other Mustangs’ goals in regulation came from Ashton Paul and Reilley Kotai. Stromme had a pair of goals in regulation for Humboldt with Tre Foquette adding the other goal.
Madden Mulawka made 19 saves for Melfort; Holtvogt made 42 saves for Humboldt.
The Mustangs opened their week with an 8-6 win over the Battleford North Stars in North Battleford on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The Mustangs led 2-1 after the first period and 4-3 after the second period.
Kotai and Zayden Sadlemyer each had a hat trick for the Mustangs; Paul and Austin Shepherd scored the other Melfort goals. Jordan Grill had a pair of goals for the North Stars; Linken Fisher, Rylan Williams, Colton Getzlaff and Nikita Ivanshchenko added the other Battlefords goals.
Coombs made 15 saves in just over 40 minutes for the Mustangs before he was replaced by Mulawka who made seven saves. Connor Baumbach made 23 saves for the North Stars.
The Ice Wolves closed their weekend road swing with a 4-2 win over the Yorkton Terriers in Yorkton on Saturday, Feb. 22. La Ronge led 3-0 after the first period and 3-2 after the second period.
Aiden Meintz, Grayden Perozni, Taite Donkin and Vinny Di Iulio scored for La Ronge. Tate Schofer and Tylan Henrikson responded for Yorkton.
Graham Brown made 25 saves for La Ronge; Ethan Farrow made 38 save for the Terriers.
La Ronge opened their weekend road swing with a 5-3 loss to the Melville Millionaires in Melville on Friday, Feb. 21. Melville led 3-1 after the first period and 4-2 after the second period.
Hudson Cameron, Nathan Da Silva and Cole Thomas scored for La Ronge. Raine Hodge, Simon Parini, Matt Kjemhus, Raiden Zacharias and Preston Baerwald responded for the Millionaires.
Falk made 30 saves for La Ronge; Nick Gennette made 25 saves for the Millionaires.
The Ice Wolves were in Wilcox on Wednesday, Feb. 19 and defeated the Notre Dame Hounds 7-1. The Ice Wolves led 1-0 after the first period and 4-0 after the second period.
Cameron had a pair of goals for La Ronge; Thomas, Perozni, Ryder Dembo, Jacob Cossette, and Rory Dewar scored the other Ice Wolves goals. Pherson Loehndorf scored the lone Hounds goal.
Logan Falk made 26 saves for La Ronge; Kaden Perron made 31 saves for Notre Dame.
The Ice Wolves opened their week with a 3-1 loss to the Yorkton Terriers in Yorkton on Tuesday, Feb. 18. La Ronge led 1-0 after the first period and the game was tied 1-1 after the second period.
Aiden Mentz scored the Ice Wolves’ loan goal. Vinay Junek, David Coyle and Jye Zawatsky scored for the Terriers.
Brown made 36 saves for the Ice Wolves; Callum Creig made 27 saves for Yorkton.
The Mustangs and Bombers face off in a home-and-home this weekend with the two teams meeting in Melfort on Friday, Feb. 28 and in Flin Flon on Saturday, March 1.
The Kindersley Klippers are in Nipawin to face the Hawks on Friday, Feb. 28 and in La Ronge to face the Ice Wolves on Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2.
