Through the first 30 minutes of play, it looked like the Nipawin Hawks might cruise to victory Friday night at the Elgar Petersen Arena.

Then, chaos occurred, as nine goals were scored over the final 25 minutes of play, with the Hawks skating away with a 7-5 win over the Broncos.

Nipawin struck first at 7:42 of the first period when Logan Casavant beat Broncos starter Sam-Jaxon Visscher. The Hawks would go up 2-0 a short time later on a goal from Austin Mikesch.

The lead was stretched to 3-0 midway through the second period on a powerplay tally by Josh McDougall.

Humboldt finally hit the scoreboard at 15:58 of the second period when hometown product Blake Berschiminsky made a nice move to beat Declan Hobbs for his first career SJHL goal.

After the Hawks turned the puck over, Logan Hunter deposited his second goal of the season just 20 seconds later, and suddenly it was 3-2 for the visitors.

The Broncos carried that late second period momentum into the third, with Jordan Bogress tying the game 3-3 at 3:41 of the final frame.

This time, it was Nipawin who quickly got a goal, as Brandan Arnold scored his first goal of the season 20 seconds later. 

Arnold, who was playing in his first game of the year after being returned from the WHL, scored his second goal of the game 16 seconds later to make it 5-3 Hawks.

Carter Woodside, who was backing up Visscher for the night with Jacob Wassermann out of the lineup, would be called upon to enter the game in relief following the fifth goal.

Woodside, who plays for the Prince Albert Mintos in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, was the Broncos third pick in the 2016 SJHL Draft.

After stopping his first couple of shots faced, it was Arnold again giving Nipawin a three goal cushion, as he scored a natural hat trick, with all three goals coming in a span of five minutes and 18 seconds.

Not to be pushed away easily, the Broncos again clawed their way back into the game, with Logan Schatz scoring his second goal of the season at 14:21 of the third.

Again, Humboldt would tack on another quickly, as Conner Lukan scored his first goal 20 seconds later to bring it to 6-5.

This time, however, the Broncos wouldn't be able to find the equalizer, as Brett Harasymuk beat Woodside on a backhand shot as he flew down the left side to make it 7-5.

It was the second win of the season for Nipawin over the Broncos, after winning 5-2 at the SJHL Showcase in Saskatoon on September 24.

The Broncos will have an opportunity to quickly erase their most recent setback to the Hawks, as the two teams do it all over again on Saturday night at Centennial Arena in Nipawin.

Tune in to Bolt FM at 7:30pm for the play by play.