New-look Nighthawks looking to defend MJHL championship

The Niverville Nighthawks are hoping to prove their Turnbull Cup and national championship win from last season wasn’t a fluke.

Despite key departures up front, including the graduation of their entire top line from last season (Hayden Wheddon, Merik Boles, Adam Vigfusson), the team appears ready to compete once again.

The Nighthawks played five exhibition games this year, the most of any team in the East Division, losing just a single time, their final game against the Steinbach Pistons Sept. 12.

“They’ve developed the systems really well,” head coach Dwight Hirst said after the game, noting the night’s action was about getting some last-minute looks at some younger players and seeing who is ready for a bigger role this season.

“That was our fourth game in five nights here, I think it was a really tired group here right now and it showed in the game tonight. There wasn’t a lot of energy, there wasn’t a lot of pace in our game.”

The night before, Niverville stormed to a 6-2 win over the Pistons in La Salle. Niverville got used to winning last season, going a combined 18-1 in the playoffs and national championships after a historic regular season with just seven losses all season.

“Everybody that runs junior teams knows that camp is a grind,” Hirst said.

“You’ve got a lot of players to chose from, it’ll be nice to shake the dust off here and get our team finalized… Next week when we get to practice we can really start building.”

Hirst said he expected the Nighthawks to be strong in the back-end and with their goaltending this season. The team will name their captain this week.

“We’re going to be a hard team to play against,” Hirst said.

“We’ve got some guys here who have stepped up and took the reins… It’s going to be interesting to see how this week shakes out and how we go about our leadership group.”

Hirst said the biggest impact last year’s playoff run should have on this year’s group was teaching the organization how to manage a season.

“It’s a testament to how we have to operate daily, how we do things every day, how we stack days and practices and games,” he said.

“Wash the old and bring in the new and build off things that are positive for us.”

Last season’s results are also sure to paint a target on Niverville’s back and to that end general manager Mike McAulay has been one of the busiest executives in the league this off-season.

He’s scoured other leagues in search of top talent to bolster their championship defense this season.

Those players should give the Nighthawks a great base to work off of, with Hirst outlining the path towards another season at the top of the standings and reaching the team’s potential.

“It’s a matter of the guys understanding how we want to play and how we want to be day-to-day,” he said.

“There’s no days off for us and I think once they get through that resolve of understanding that we don’t take breaks… Nobody cares if you’re tired. That’s the motto for us, if you’re tired, just keep finding a way to push through that tiredness.”

Niverville hosts the Winnipeg Monarchs on Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. to kick off their season.