By Bill Burfoot
On Sunday night, the Niverville Nighthawks and Winkler Flyers faced off for the second time in a single weekend, this time in Winkler—and the rematch didn’t disappoint.
It was a much different contest from Friday’s 4–2 win in Niverville, which was more one-sided in the Nighthawks’ favour. This time, the Flyers jumped out to an early lead. The teams went back-and-forth exchanging leads all night long.
In the end, the overtime hero was Loic Leduc, giving the Nighthawks a 5–4 win.
The Flyers came out strong in the first period. An early power play gave them the chance to strike first and they took full advantage. On a quick counterattack, Connor Rieger found William Lyons, who was heading toward the Nighthawks’ net. Lyons found the gap between the glove and pad of Niverville netminder Austin Dubinsky to give the Flyers the lead. It was first goal of the season.
However, the Nighthawks responded a few minutes later. Merik Boles tied the game with his third of the season when his centring pass deflected off a Flyers defenceman’s skate and got by Winkler goalie Leif Ekblad.
The second period opened much like the first, with Winkler once again striking early. Just 33 seconds in, Rieger picked up his second point of the game when he received a perfect drop pass from Trevor Dalton in the slot. He made no mistake, lifting a shot over Dubinsky’s blocker to put the Flyers back on top, 2–1.
This was the first of five total goals scored in the middle frame between the two clubs.
Niverville once again tied things up as Adam Vigfusson fired a one-timer from the right circle. Although Ekblad stopped it, the rebound came loose and Dawson Zeller was in the right place at the right time to knock in the equalizer.
The Nighthawks took their first lead of the game at the midway point of the second period when Thomas Phillips found Hayden Wheddon at the Flyers’ blue line. Wheddon skated in and ripped a shot over Ekblad’s glove, giving Niverville a 3–2 advantage.
