DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Niverville Nighthawks are deserving Turnbull Cup champions

When I walked into the Niverville Resource and Rec Centre to take in a scrimmage last September, my eyes nearly jumped out of my skull.

Not necessarily by the play on the ice, although that was pretty good, but just by looking at the roster cards. The Nighthawks were bringing back so many quality, experienced players I had no idea how other teams in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League would be able to handle them.

A full season later, and it turns out the MJHL had as little a clue as I did that first day in September. The Nighthawks dominated the MJHL this season, scoring the most goals, giving up the fewest, losing just seven regular season games and going 16-1 in the playoffs.

Their sweep in the finals definitely taught me a lesson. When asked to predict the finals, even though I wanted to say “oh Niverville is going to sweep Virden,” I chickened out and picked them in five, even though I was convinced they held a decisive edge all over the ice surface.

One sweep later, and if I had the guts to pick that, I would have looked like a genius.

It’s also satisfying to know that the regular season does matter at least a little bit. Across this season, the Nighthawks dominated the Oil Capitals, including an incredible 11-2 thrashing in November. If Virden had made this series competitive, I would have taken a good, hard look at if I needed to pay attention to the regular season at all when it comes to the MJHL.

This dominant performance means that you can learn at least some lessons from the regular season.

The vibe from this Niverville team was workman-like. They didn’t seem flashy, they seemed to show up to every game ready to work.

I think the coaching staff, led by Dwight Hirst, brought the perfect style to this team. A championship favourite is a tough thing to coach at times, but these players embraced that challenge and thrived in the pressure that was put on them internally to deliver a championship.