Trio of Niverville Nighthawks pick up MJHL awards

The Niverville Nighthawks of 2025/2026 will be remembered as a dominant team in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and they were rewarded for it in the league’s year-end awards.

Head coach Dwight Hirst was named league coach of the year, with Austin Dubinsky claiming top goaltender and Merik Boles receiving the league’s sportsmanship award.

Hirst, who joined the Nighthawks after a late-season coaching change in 2024, has led a veteran team to an outstanding record. With only two games left on their schedule, Niverville boasts an incredible 50-6-1 record and have eclipsed the 100 point mark.

“The guys really buy into what we’re selling as a coaching staff, and what we want to do and what we want to become,” Hirst said when asked what the Nighthawks’ biggest strengths are this season.

“I commended the group boys after I got the award, on them allowing us to push them to limits they probably have never gone to before and do things they’ve probably never been able to do.”

Niverville has been at the top of the standings from the beginning of the year to the end, with the team striving to not let their status stop them from bringing an improvement mindset to the rink every day.

Hirst said the coaching staff put a high priority on changing their practice routines and structure throughout the year to ensure players wouldn’t get complacent.

“We kind of throw a wrench in it and try to do something completely off the wall, just keeping them on their toes and keeping them guessing all season long,” Hirst said.

“I’ve said it ever since I became interim head coach… It doesn’t matter what you did the day before, you’ve got to worry about what you did today.”

The Nighthawks were anticipated to be a strong team this season, bringing back many of the quality veteran players that had solid seasons last year.

“A lot of people talk about our team being that mature group, and I’ll be the first to say, ‘yeah we probably are,’” Hirst said.

“We’re comfortable in a 1-0 hockey game or a 6-1 hockey game or a 2-2 hockey game, it doesn’t really matter the game at hand. We worry about what we control and what we have to do and how the outcome will come to us if we just stay with the regular process.”

The last time a team finished with at least 100 points in a season was in 2017/2018, when Steinbach compiled a 48-8-4 record across a 60-game regular season.

Dubinsky was a shoe-in for goaltender of the year, racking up 33 wins on the season. The only other goalie to even reach 20 wins this year was Virden’s Braxton Burdeny.

Dubinsky took over as the number one option for Niverville after Raiden LeGall left for the WHL last season and has thrived ever since.

“He’s a big part of our team, he’s the guy that can steer the ship for us in the playoffs,” Hirst said.

Boles was also the easy choice for the league’s sportsmanship award. He’s fifth in league scoring, with just four penalty minutes this season.

Hirst not only coached him with the Nighthawks, but also throughout his minor career with the Eastman Selects.

“You talk to a lot of other coaches in the league and players in the league, they all praise Merik’s game and how honest of a game he plays,” Hirst said.

“He plays the game the right way. Both (Boles and Dubinsky) are players that coaches in this league would love to have on their team and I’m fortunate enough to have them on our team.”

The Nighthawks will play Winkler in the first round of the MJHL playoffs. Those start after the end of the regular season, set for this weekend.

The MJHL’s coach of the year award is named in honour of Muzz Macpherson, who had a long coaching career across Canada, including helping the Portage Terriers to a national championship in 1973. Macpherson even coached Wayne Gretzky in the Ontario junior ranks, suggesting the young talent wear number 99 because the preferred number nine was already claimed.

The MJHL’s sportsmanship and playing ability award is named for former commissioner Frank McKinnon. After a long playing career, he turned to management, being named the Canadian Executive of the Year in 1983, holding positions with the Sports Federation of Canada, the Canadian Olympic Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation and was a trustee of the Centennial Cup.

The league’s top goaltender award is named for Ed Belfour. The eventual NHL mega-star from Carman got his start with the Winkler Flyers, including a first-place season in 1987. Belfour played over 1,000 NHL games (playoffs and regular season combined), winning a gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Olympics. He won the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender in 1991 and 1993 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.