Ty Dilello
The Niverville Nighthawks won big on Friday night with a decisive 4–1 victory on the road over the Swan Valley Stampeders. With the win, the Nighthawks stay in fourth place in the MJHL’s East Division with a record of 22–14–2.
The Nighthawks dominated this contest from start to finish, outshooting Swan Valley by a 48–26 margin. The Nighthawks led 2–1 after the first period and never looked back. They added a pair of second period goals to extend the lead.
The Stampeders mounted no comeback in the scoreless third period.
Nathan Brown and Alex Walicki led the charge for Niverville with a goal and an assist apiece. Niverville’s other tallies on the evening were scored by Carter Spirig and Josh Danis.
The Walicki and Danis goals are significant in that both players, recently traded to Niverville from the Stampeders, were facing their old club for the first time.
Raiden LeGall stopped 25 shots in goal in the win.
“I thought we really earned our offence tonight,” said Nighthawks head coach Kelvin Cech. “Swan Valley had recently lost some of their top scorers, but they played free and without pressure, so it was a tough game early on. I thought our guys were able to handle them as the game went on. Once the puck started to go in, we played our game better and a mature road game.”
The Nighthawks were rejoined on Friday night by Nathan Brown, who is back with the team after serving a three-game suspension for a cross-check back on January 5.
“We’ve got four good lines right now that have specific roles,” said Cech. “So it was great to slot Nathan Brown back in the lineup as he did a ton out there, not just in scoring, but in creating space for his linemates. It was awesome to see.”
The Nighthawks are back in action on Saturday night with another road game against the Dauphin Kings. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
“Dauphin is coming off an inspiring overtime win over Virden tonight, so they’re still battling for playoff positioning,” said Cech. “We’ve gone back and forth with them in our games with Dauphin this year so far, but we just have to worry about us and take care of our game. We’ll see what happens out there.”