Ty Dilello – Niverville Citizen
The Niverville Nighthawks got back in the win column on Saturday night with a big 3–2 road victory over the Neepawa Titans. With the victory, the Nighthawks stay in third place in the MJHL’s East Division with a record of 4–1–1.
In this back-and-forth affair, Mighton Johnson got the Nighthawks on the board just five minutes into the contest. That score held up as the only goal of the first period.
Neepawa tied it early in the second period before the Nighthawks replied with Ty Kennett’s first goal of the season. The Titans would once again tie the game with a power play marker late in the period.
In the third period, however, it was the Nighthawks’ Michael Debrito who broke the deadlock—just seventeen seconds into the final frame. Debrito’s team-leading fourth goal of the season came on the power play and turned out to be the game winner.
“You could see it in the first five minutes that the guys were taking it very seriously and were pretty embarrassed from getting beat bad last night,” said Nighthawks head coach Kelvin Cech. “So they came out, and we just got back to our identity and stuck to our habits. It was obvious early on that we were playing well, and so was Neepawa, so it was a hard-fought win, and we’re happy to get the two points.”
Raiden LeGall was outstanding in the Nighthawks goal, stopping 40 shots.
“Raiden tonight was outstanding in net,” said Cech. “Everything was sticking to him without him having to move his arm too much, as he’s always in good position because he’s so smart and reads the play well. We have a really good tandem of goalies that gives the guys a boost every game.”
The Nighthawks also had a pair of rookies making their MJHL debuts this weekend in Adam Vigfusson and Liam Foley.
“Vigfusson is a local kid that we got back from the SJHL a few weeks ago. He had a good start tonight. And then Foley is filling in for Eric Martin, who is out with an injury. Foley had no practice or nothing, he just hopped on the bus with us and came and played some key minutes tonight. We were very pleased with his game.”
The Nighthawks are back in action on Wednesday night with a home game against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines at CRRC. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
“We’re going to watch all the penalties we took today, as I think we took six in a row at one point this game,” said Cech. “Our penalty kill was great again, led by Merik Boles and Michael Tanchak, but they’re playing way too much. So we’ve got to work on staying out of the penalty box. A couple of practices before Waywayseecappo comes to town will go a long way I think!”