The Nipawin Hawks were the most active team last week in the Sherwood Division last week as they push for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Hawks finished their three-game southern road swing on Saturday, while the Melfort Mustangs and La Ronge Ice Wolves played one game each.
The Flin Flon Bombers have clinched a Sherwood Division title and the Mustangs have clinched a playoff spot.
As of Feb. 26, the Mustangs are in second place with a record of 32-14-3-0 with 67 points, the Hawks are in third place with a record of 19-26-0-4 with 42 points and the Ice Wolves are in fourth place with a record of 15-30-3-2 with 35 points.
The Hawks began their road trip with a 4-3 loss to the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox on Thursday, Feb. 22. The game was scoreless after the first period and the Hounds led 3-2 after the second.
Braeden Jockims and Ratzlaff and Bernauer scored for Nipawin. Paul Bloomer, Carson Baylis, Alexander Hollands and Cole Wirun responded for the Hounds.
Damon Cunningham made 26 saves for the Hawks; Spencer Borsos made 35 saves for Notre Dame.
Nipawin bounced back with a 5-4 win the next night in Estevan against the Bruins. The game was scoreless after the first period and tied 3-3 after the second period.
Alex Bernauer, Chase Visser, Liam McInnis, Maguire Ratzlaff and Jacob Michelson scored for the Hawks. Owen Simmons had a pair of goal for Estevan, Owen Barrow and Cade Kennedy added the other Bruins goals.
Tyson Endall made 24 saves for Nipawin; Jackson Miller made 21 saves for Estevan.
The Hawks concluded their southern road swing with a 4-2 loss to the Red Wings in Weyburn on Saturday, Feb. 24. Nipawin led 2-0 after the first period and the game was tied 2-2 after the second period.
Finley Radloff and Eric Hoiness scored for the Hawks. Braigh LeGrandeur, Dallen Oxelgran, Matthew Hodson and Lucas Jeffreys responded for Weyburn.
Cunningham made 34 saves for Nipawin; Dazza Mitchell made 41 saves for the Red Wings.
The Weyburn Red Wings were in Nipawin to face the Hawks on Wednesday, Feb. 28, results were not available.
Melfort’s lone game of the week was a 7-0 win over the Melville Millionaires in Melfort on Friday, Feb. 23. James Venne stopped all 22 shots he faced to record the shutout for Melfort.
Melfort led 1-0 after the first period and 5-0 after the second period. Aidyn Hutchinson had a pair of goals for Melfort: Leith Olafson, Rhett Hamilton, Tye Evans, Kaleb Binner and Chase Friedt-Mohr added the other Mustangs’ goals.
Ethan Rau made 14 saves for the Millionaires in just over 14 minutes of action before being replaced by William Dyke who made 11 saves.
The Estevan Bruins were in Melfort to play the Mustangs on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Results were not available by press time.
In their lone game of the week the La Ronge Ice Wolves traveled to Humboldt and lost 6-3 to the Broncos on Saturday, Feb. 24. The Broncos led 3-2 after the first period and 4-3 after the second period.
Dylan Handel, Cole Thomas and Jacob Hufty scored for the Ice Wolves. Travis Bryson had a pair of goals for Humboldt; Spencer Bell, Maddox Amaral, Cage Newans and Tristan Serrao added the other Broncos goals.
Eric Kahl made 39 saves for La Ronge; Ty Matonovich made 25 saves for Humboldt.
The Mustangs are in North Battleford to play the Battlefords North Stars on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.
The Weyburn Red Wings are in La Ronge for a pair of games on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.
The Yorkton Terriers are in Nipawin to play the Hawks on Friday, March 1.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
