Niverville in danger of dropping playoff spot

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2023 (885 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

by CASSIDY DANKOCHIK

In the same week the Steinbach Pistons clinched a Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) playoff spot, the Niverville Nighthawks could be losing grip on theirs.

The Nighthawks still sit in fourth place in the league’s east division, but have new competition, as the Selkirk Steelers are only four points behind the expansion club.

The gap closed significantly this weekend, as Niverville lost consecutive home games to third-place Winkler and first-place Portage, while Selkirk rattled off wins against second place Steinbach and the last-place Winnipeg Freeze.

Selkirk is a perfect 5-0 in February so far, including wins against the two top teams in the MJHL (Portage and Steinbach).

While Niverville faced tough competition this weekend, they had their chances to win. Against Winkler Feb. 10, a disastrous second period put the home team behind the eight-ball. The team gave up three goals in the final 10 minutes of the period, and went into the third trailing 3-1. Winkler only received two powerplays across the entire game, and managed to convert on both of them.

It was a rough affair through two periods, with 99 of the game’s 103 penalty minutes coming in the first 40 minutes. Those penalties included a Carter Spirig and Jayce Legaarden fight mid-way through the second.

Despite the score, Niverville appeared to be the better team five-on-five, and proved it in the third period, with Evan Bortis scoring to cut the deficit in half, setting up Brendan Bottem’s tying goal with under three minutes remaining.

With all the momentum, Niverville continued to press for a regulation win, but were caught up-ice and Winkler’s Zach Nicolas gave the visitors a win by converting a two-on-one with under 30 seconds to go in the third period.

It was a similar story Feb. 12, as Portage jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the second period thanks to a Ryan Botterill hat trick. From there, Niverville would battle back, scoring two powerplay goals and a short-handed goal to tie the game with under four minutes left.

Once again, the Nighthawks would walk away empty-handed, after Austin Peters scored with under 90 seconds to go in the third period to give the Terriers a 5-4 lead.

Carson Reed, who left the game against Winkler with an injury, did not play in the game against Portage.

To make things worse for Niverville, their closest rivals couldn’t give them much help on the out of town scoreboard, as Steinbach fell 5-1 to Selkirk Feb. 11. The Pistons were fresh off of defeating Winkler 3-2 to lock up their playoff spot.

Ty Paisley continued his strong return from injury with a first period goal, with the red-hot Ian Amsbaugh and Davin Griffin adding second-period markers to seal the victory against Winkler.

In Selkirk, the Pistons were done in by poor special teams play, and a hot Steelers netminder. Hunter Tarves stopped 29 of 30, and Selkirk killed off all five Steinbach powerplays. In addition, the Steelers scored two powerplay goals of their own en route to a 4-1 victory.

Those two powerplay goals were the difference, as Selkirk added on an empty net goal with under a minute left to seal the win, and pull ever closer to the Nighthawks for the east division’s final playoff spot.

The region’s two MJHL franchises will face off on Louis Reil day in Steinbach Feb. 20. Puck drop is at 2:30 p.m., capping off a busy weekend for both teams. Steinbach will be playing a home and home series against Dauphin Feb. 17/18 and Niverville playing games against OCN and Swan Valley at home those days as well. Puck drop for all home games is at 7:30 p.m. (Duphin at Steinbach is on Feb. 18).

Niverville may also be looking forward to Feb. 25, as they host Selkirk for a key match-up in the east division’s playoff race.