HAWKS HIT 10 IN A ROW

A handful of teams have posted impressive winning streak this season, and the latest, and longest active belongs to the Nipawin Hawks, who made it 10 in a row Friday night, with a 2-0 shutout win over the visiting Melfort Mustangs.  That’s the first of three straight meetings between those two rivals between now and Tuesday.

Hawks’ goalie Kristian Stead is starting a streak of his own, posting his third consecutive shutout, making 33 saves for his sixth clean sheet of the season.  Stead’s allowed three goals over his last six starts (6-0, 0.50 GAA, .984%, 3 SO).

Grant Baetsen had both goals for the Hawks, his 11th and 12th of the season.

Evan Plotnik made 28/30 saves in goal for the Mustangs (19-22-2-4), who have now dropped five in a row.

The Hawks (30-12-2-1) are back to within six points of Flin Flon for the Sherwood lead with two games in hand.  Those teams have gone a combined 22 games without a regulation loss.  They’re both in action on Saturday with the Hawks taking on Melfort again, in Melfort, with Flin Flon resuming a road trip in Notre Dame.

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The Humboldt Broncos scored three third period goals to come from behind and beat the Melville Millionaires 5-3.

Chris Van Os-Shaw scored his 34th of the season and added two assists, and his centreman Logan Schatz also had 1g-2a, while Connor Swystun (1g-1a), Luke Kempf and Tristen Elder also scored for the Broncos (26-20-0-1), and Garrett Mason stopped all 16 shots he faced in relief.

After Van Os-Shaw opened the scoring for Humboldt, the Millionaires (17-27-2-0) scored three quick ones late in the first period to take the lead.  Alex Maticic, Tucker Scantlebury and Logan Karakochuk all scored less than five minutes apart.

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The Yorkton Terriers and Notre Dame Hounds met in Fort Qu’Appelle for a neutral site game, and Matt Vernon made 47 saves on 48 shots to backstop the Terriers to a 2-1 victory.

Jordan Hudson opened the scoring for the Terriers (21-23-4-0) just over two minutes in, and Dakota Odgers scored the winner five minutes into the third.  Yorkton’s back to within a single point of Weyburn for sixth place overall.

Adam Dawe scored for the Hounds (18-21-5-1) and Benjamin Patt made 25/27 saves.  The Hounds remain in the final playoff spot, still six points up on Melville.

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The Battlefords North Stars hung on to their eight point lead at the top of the league standings, with a 5-2 win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves.

The Stars’ powerplay led the charge, going a perfect 4-for-4.  Layne Young (2g), Connor Logan (1g-1a), Ben Allen (1g-1a), Coby Downs (2a) and Jared Blaquiere (2a) all had two point nights for the North Stars (38-8-1-0), while Reed Delainey also scored and Joel Gryzbowski made 22/24 saves.

Curtis Peck and Brayden Dunn replied for the Ice Wolves (6-36-1-4).