Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League

SCOREBOARD SATURDAY

By Craig Stein

THREE ONE-GOAL GAMES

The Nipawin Hawks capped a perfect weekend, and are all of a sudden on a six game winning streak, in first place in the Sherwood Division (and the entire league) after a 3-2 overtime win over visiting Weyburn on Saturday.

The teams traded goals all night until Austen Flaman scored his 14th of the season, 1:49 into overtime to win it for the Hawks (21-8-0-1).  Jaxsen Wiebe opened the scoring short-handed and Josh Lester added his first SJHL goal.  Declan Hobbs earned the win making 24/26 saves.

Cade Kowalski replied with both goals for the Red Wings (10-16-3-0), his 12th and 13th of the year, while Riley Lamb made 27/30 saves.  After dropping lopsided games in Melfort and Flin Flon, the Wings ended up a respectable 1-2-1 on their four game swing through the Sherwood.

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After a 10-game win streak, the Melfort Mustangs have now lost on back to back nights at home, with Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Estevan Bruins.

The Bruins (15-17-1-0) were shutout in Nipawin and Flin Flon, but won in La Ronge and Melfort to split their four game swing.

Johnny Witzke and Michael McChesney each had a goal and an assist for Estevan, while TJ Irey and Turner Ripplinger started and finished the Bruins’ scoring respectively.  Grant Boldt got the win, stopping 26/29 shots.

Meanwhile it was the usual suspects for the Mustangs, as Justin Ball scored twice and Carson Albrecht added a goal and two assists.  That’s 27 straight games with a point now for Ball, and even nine straight with a goal (12 goals during the stretch).  Ball leads the league with 49 points, including 29 goals in 29 games.  Albrecht’s now tied for second with 46 points.

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Justen Close made 27/28 stops to backstop the Kindersley Klippers over the Notre Dame Hounds 2-1.

Riley Kohonick was also impressive at the other end, making 35 saves on 37 shots.

Will Van Der Sloot opened the scoring just 2:20 into the game for the Klippers (17-8-2-1), and Blake Kleiner potted the eventual winner on the powerplay exactly a minute into the third.

Conor MacLean later added the only goal for Notre Dame.  It’s been a tough go lately for the Hounds (13-16-2-3), who recently went above .500 for the first time, but have since dropped four in a row.

There’s one matinee on Sunday as the Humboldt Broncos welcome the Yorkton Terriers at 3:00.

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