Mason Hawkes had a tremendous season for the Prince Albert Predators a year ago, but the graduating netminder has been even better in 2024.
In 2023, Hawkes earned the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League (PGLL) Defensive Player of the Year and Sask Major Male Athlete of the Year, as well as Predators Most Valuable Player honours.
Predators head coach Lucas Wells says Hawkes is a good goaltender because of the way he conducts himself in the crease.
“I think it’s his calmness and his presence in the net. The way he understands the game and the way he thinks the game. His ability when he gets scored on to kind of brush it off, it’s incredible. Any big game we’ve played in in the last three years, he’s kind of been the guy I’ve wanted to put in the net. And he thrives in those big game situations, and that’s what you need from your goalie.”
Hawkes appeared in all 12 regular season games for the Predators, who ran the table going undefeated. Hawkes registered a 3.30 Goals Against Average and a .901 save percentage for Prince Albert.
Hawkes says he put in a lot of work to improve his game from last season.
“I worked on some things that we kind of picked out from last year that I struggled on a little bit and other than that just hard work every time we’re at the rink. The defense helped me out a real lot this year. The same as last year, they always play well and keep them outside and make it easy for me.”
Wells, who played the goaltender position during his position, says Hawkes is a tremendous athlete for his size, which makes him so effective in the Predator crease.
“His positioning is incredible and his athleticism. He may not look (it), but he is very athletic. He’s very quick. He reacts tremendously. His overall total body control is incredible. Some of the acrobatic saves he makes. If you saw him without his goalie gear, you’d think this guy isn’t an athlete, but he is. He’s a tremendous athlete. His ability to make the saves when really there probably shouldn’t be a save made is huge.”
Having spent the majority of the past two seasons as the starter for the Predators, Wells says it gives him peace of mind coming to the rink knowing that Hawkes will be the starter.
“(It) takes a lot of stress off my back, to be honest with you. There’s no better feeling than getting to the rink an hour and a half before, two hours before, and knowing that he’s already playing. It works both ways. It’s very stress free for me, but it’s also very stress free for him. He doesn’t want to give it up to anybody, whether they’re our backup, or if we do go on a run to Founders, or anywhere else we go, and we pick up another goalie, it’s still his net until he proves otherwise.”
The Predators are in action on Sunday when they travel to Regina for Founders’ Cup play-in action against the Queen City Kings.
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