Niverville Nighthawks ready to battle at 2024 training camp

If the Niverville Nighthawks’ blue vs white game is anything to go by, the team is set for a competitive camp.

The team held a scrimmage Sept. 3, with Team White coming out on top 5-4. The game featured plenty of physicality and even a fight after a high hit. Niverville’s head coach, Dwight Hirst, said after the game he liked the way the camp roster competed in the game, which was hosted inside the Niverville Resource and Rec Centre.

“At the end of the day, it’s junior hockey and guys are competing for a job to play here,” Hirst said.

“That’s our job as an organization, to make sure that guys know it’s a team you want to fight to get onto, fight every shift and fight for the puck in every situation.”

Hirst was quick to praise general manager Mike McAulay for bringing in players who are willing to compete day in, day out at camp and working to address the team’s weaknesses this offseason.

“I think the intensity comes from the guys we brought into camp, right from prospects camp last weekend, into main camp this weekend, into the blue and white game tonight,” he said.

“The guys look around the room and know there’s a lot of competition and a lot of good players here. Everyone’s bringing their A-game every day, every practice, every shift.”

It’s Hirst’s first time running a Nighthawks training camp after he was brought in when Niverville fired Kelvin Cech mid-season in February.

Hirst stepped in as the club’s interim head coach and was named the permanent head coach in May.

“Camp has been going really good,” he said.

“It’s been very intense. Guys are making it hard on us to make decisions here, and that’s what you want as a coach.”

The Nighthawks have been a solid franchise since beginning play in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in the 2022/2023 season, making the playoffs in their first two years and getting eliminated in the first round by the regular season champions both years.

Hirst is hoping to give Niverville a taste of playoff success this season, and that journey starts in training camp, where three years of young player acquisition through the draft is starting to pay off.

“(We’re) starting to draft and develop and get guys that we want to fit to our mold of our organization,” Hirst said.

After opening camp Aug. 30th, the team is looking to pair down the roster over the next few days, in advance of a rookie game against Selkirk Sept. 6.

The blue vs white game will give Nighthawks coaches plenty to consider, as shown by a final shots on goal total of 31-29.

“It was a good game for us to watch and see players compete in,” Hirst said, noting the close score showed the coaching staff did their job in building two evenly matched teams.

“(We’re) just looking to see what we can get out of the guys every game we have them here.”

It’s a home heavy pre-season schedule for Niverville, as they host two games against both Selkirk and Steinbach. A game against the Pistons is set for Sept. 8, with puck-drop at 7:30 p.m.