Flyers advance over feisty Niverville Nighthawks squad

The Niverville Nighthawks had their best-ever season, but still fell in the first round of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs.

The Nighthawks lost game six of the quarterfinals to the Winkler Flyers 3-2, dropping the series 4-2. Niverville gave the highly favoured Flyers a battle, even out-scoring Winkler over the course of the series, but couldn’t find a decisive victory.

“It was a good series, five of the six games were decided by one goal,” head coach Dwight Hirst said.

“There was a lot of players that stepped up in our lineup that you need to step up in playoffs to have success and some of our guys were were hopefully depending upon to be goalscorers to carry some of the weight didn’t stand up. It was a balance of both.”

Each of Niverville’s first three seasons in the MJHL have seen the Nighthawks play the league’s top-ranked team, only picking up a single win in the last two seasons of post-season play. This season marked the franchise’s first two playoff wins on home ice.

Another positive was the ability to host three playoff games for the first time, with over 1,000 people in attendance for game six.

“I don’t want to keep adding little baby steps here, but I know next year’s going to be a bigger step taken by our program for sure,” Hirst said, noting the team is expecting to bring back a strong contingent of returning players, including possibly goaltender Dubinsky.

“If they all come back, I think we could be one of the better teams in the league next year.”

Game six looked assured to be another Niverville victory, as Dawson Zeller gave the home side a 2-0 lead with a nice wrist shot off the rush as he picked up a rebound high in the slot.

Ile des Chenes’ forward Brody Beauchemin, who plays for Winkler, sparked the comeback for the Flyers. Beauchemin found himself all alone against Austin Dubinsky, and cut from the left side of the net to the right.

While Dubinsky stayed with the play as long as he could, in the initial push to cut down the angle, he lost contact with the post, allowing Beauchemin to slip the puck around the goaltender’s pads and into the net.

In every loss the Nighthawks had this series, they had the game tied well into the third period, but could never find that clinching goal.

“It was a tough series,” Beauchemin said after game six.

“I think we got surprised a bit, they’re a great team over there. They were working hard every night.”

Andrew Morton nabbed the series-winning goal, striking on the powerplay after a Sean Williams clearing attempt went straight out of play. The puck was right along the boards, but somehow missed all the glass before hitting the netting. After referees convened, they ruled the puck went straight out and awarded the Flyers a powerplay.

This is the first year clearing the puck straight out of play from your own zone results in a penalty in the MJHL, after the league, and other Junior A leagues across Western Canada, changed their rules this off-season to better align with the Western Hockey League as part of a region-wide development model.

Morton leaned into a one-time from the faceoff dot after Kam Thomas drew in defenders at the point and slipped the puck to him. Game six was the only game the visiting team won in the series.

“When we play our game like that I don’t think anyone can stop us,” Beauchemin said.

“We knew their backs were against the wall and their season was on the line, so we had to fire back.”

Hirst said exit meetings took place April 2, with the recruiting work never done.

The team will be hosting a spring prospects camp later this month as well as carefully scouting the May prospect showcase. It’s a short off-season until players start to return for their first skates in late-August.

“It never stops,” Hirst said on his recruiting and retention efforts.

“Even after we lose out last night, we take the day off, everyone kind of disbands for a day, then after exit meetings the planning work starts for next year already.”

The Flyers are aiming to repeat as MJHL champions after sweeping the final against Steinbach last season.

“We’re a dangerous group,” Beauchemin said.

“We’ve got a bunch of returning (players), a lot of young guys that are buying in too. I think we can do something really special here.”

The MJHL’s goalie of the year, Liam Ernst, was pulled for back-up Leif Ekblad in game five. Ekblad got the start and the win in game six as well.

Winkler are set to play the Northern Manitoba Blizzard in the league’s semi-finals, with Dauphin and Portage playing on the opposite side of the bracket.

“It’s going to take a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Beauchemin said when asked what it’s going to take for the Flyers to repeat.

“We’ve got four lines that can roll, and we’re rolling every night. We’re all bought in, we’re all big boys, we’ve got guys blocking shots, we’ve got guys putting their bodies on the line. (Blake Matheson) lost his tooth putting his body on the line. We’re all just bought in.”

The MJHL semi-finals begin April 4, with the Flyers hosting the Blizzard April 5 and 6 to start their series.