By Craig Stein
HAWKS WIN ELEVENTH STRAIGHT
The Nipawin Hawks’ winning streak now sits at 11, after a 6-2 victory at home over the Melfort Mustangs on Saturday night.
The Hawks (31-12-2-1) have also moved to within four points of Flin Flon for the Sherwood Division lead, with two games in hand, and they’ll play Melfort for a third straight time on Tuesday.
Kristian Stead allowed more than one for the first time in seven starts, and had a three game shutout streak end, but still made a spectacular 43 saves on 45 shots. Stead’s shutout streak spanned 253 minutes, 32 seconds.
Josh Bly had a goal and three assists on Saturday while Tanner Thompson added a pair of goals. Grant Baetsen (1g-1a), Michael Grant (1g-1a) and Keillan Olson also scored.
The Mustangs have now dropped six in a row, and they’re now into a tie for 9th with Notre Dame. Andrew Thompson and Kalem Zary picked up their goals on Saturday.
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The Hawks picked up a pair of points in the Sherwood race as the Flin Flon Bombers lost in regulation after 12 straight games without.
The Notre Dame Hounds scored three times in the third period as they came from behind to edge the Bombers 3-2 in Wilcox.
Ben Duperreault scored twice, giving him 33 on the year, and a league-high 68 points. Chaz Smedsrud added a goal and an assist and Benjamin Patt made 36/37 saves for Notre Dame (19-21-5-1).
The Bombers (32-11-2-3) lost in regulation for the first time since December 17th. Defenseman Eric Sinclair scored both of their goals Saturday night. Flin Flon wraps up a four games in five nights road trip Sunday in Estevan, starting at 2:00.
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The Kindersley Klippers ran their winning streak to seven games, thanks to a 7-0 win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
Justen Close made 18 saves for his fifth shutout this season, and the Klippers’ seventh shutout as a team.
Defenseman Tate Paige led the way offensively with two goals and an assist. Cody Hodgson (1g-1a), Josh Fletcher (1g-1a), Kyle Bosch (1g-1a), Carson Pickett and Jordan Funk all found the net, as the Klippers (23-23-1-0) moved back to .500 and into 7th place overall.
The Ice Wolves fall to 6-37-1-4.
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The Weyburn Red Wings hung onto the sixth overall spot Saturday, with a 4-1 victory in Yorkton.
Carter Phair made 31/32 saves to backstop the Wings (22-21-1-4).
Ben Hiltz (1g-1a), Carson Rose, Jacob Wozney and Erik Olson did the scoring, as Weyburn won in Yorkton for the second time this week.
Matthew Perkins opened the scoring for the Terriers (21-24-4-0), and Matt Vernon made 30/34 saves.
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The Battlefords North Stars now have a 10 point lead for the regular season pennant race, after their 3-1 win in Humboldt on Saturday.
The North Stars (39-8-1-0) are now ten points up on Flin Flon for first overall.
Layne Young (1g-1a), Coby Downs (1g-1a) and Reed Delainey did the scoring while Taryn Kotchorek made 29 saves on 30 shots.
Luke Kempf picked up the only goal for the Broncos (26-21-0-1) and Garrett Mason made 28/31 saves.
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