Braxton Buckberger had a three point night and the Nipawin Hawks downed the Yorkton Terriers 5-2. Tysen Smith made 45 saves in the loss, while Maddux Nollski and Cade Kennedy had the markers for Yorkton.
In a penalty filled first period, Nipawin found the opening goal. Late in the frame, Tre Fouquette let a shot go from the point, which Alex Johnson tipped past Smith to make it 1-0. Yorkton got a buzzer beater to send both teams to the dressing rooms tied at 1-1. With two seconds left and having an offensive zone face-off, the Terriers pulled the goalie. JD Hall won the face-off back to Nollski, who sniped the top corner past Jackson Fellner with 0.5 seconds to go. The goal snapped Nollski’s 19 game goalless drought.
Nipawin restored their lead early in the second period. Joel Mabin fed Buckberger a backdoor feed, and the Saskatoon product made no mistake making it 2-1. Terriers responded. On a great individual effort, Cade Kennedy danced through the defence, before picking up the puck on the wall and rifling a shot past Fellner, tying the game at 2-2. However, the Hawks regained their one goal lead. Buckberger found a wide open Eric Robbie in front of the Yorkton goal and he slammed home his second goal of the year to make it 3-2 Nipawin. The Hawks made it 4-2 on a similar play, this time Buckberger put home his second of the period and 17th of the season. Nipawin added one more goal late in the third period to clinch it, as Francois-Xavier Bedard knocked home a rebound, giving Nipawin a 5-2 victory.
Yorkton is back in action on Friday night when they play host to the Battlefords North Stars. The game will be broadcast on the GX 94 alternate feed. Pre-game show starts at 6:50pm and play-by-play begins at 7:00pm.