Ty Dilello – Niverville Citizen
In what may go down in history as one of the most dominant wins in franchise history, the Niverville Nighthawks took it to the Winnipeg Freeze on Friday evening at the CRRC with a monstrous 11–3 victory. With their fourth win in a row, the Nighthawks move into second place in the MJHL’s East Division with a record of 10–3–1.
The Nighthawks showed that they were a class above the Freeze right from puck drop. Kyle Bochek led the way with a hat trick, while Merik Boles potted home two goals himself. Other Nighthawks goals on the night were scored by Michael Tanchak, Bryce Warkentine, Avery Laliberte, Brendan Bottem, Carter Spirig, and Adam Vigfusson.
Keegan Gordon stopped just 10 shots for the Nighthawks in goal.
“We wanted to start the right way, and for the most part, we did,” said Nighthawks head coach Kelvin Cech. “That’s how we want to play all the time, not giving them any time and space with the puck. We get the puck back a lot quicker that way.”
Cech was pleased with his group’s efforts to stay focused on the task at hand, even when the score was getting out of reach.
“We can never disrespect our opponent by giving anything less than a full effort,” said Cech. “If we try to be too cute and too fancy, it can come back to bite you. So I’m glad we ignored what the score was and played the same way. We scored a lot of greasy goals around the net and weren’t staying around the perimeter. Guys were still blocking shots when we were up by seven goals or whatever so that was very nice to see.”
The Nighthawks are back in action on Sunday evening on the road with a big game against the Winkler Flyers. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
“We know we’re playing a good team on Sunday, and you have to have good habits to be successful against the top teams. We’re going to go in and play our game, and we’ll see what happens.”