By Adi Lowen
📸 your_pictures_here
The 2026-27 Niverville Nighthawks team and organization are getting ready to kick off another season, and they’re inviting the community to celebrate with them Saturday night.
The Nighthawks Kickoff Social is back for its third year, giving fans, families, volunteers and players a chance to get together before the hockey season gets underway. The event will be held under a tent in the parking lot of the old Centennial Arena, right beside the outdoor rink.
Cara Dowse with the Nighthawks organization says the social has become a fun way to wrap up the summer and get the hockey season started.
“This is the third year in a row where we just hire a local band and kind of have a way to end off the summer.”
Tickets are $20, and the event will include live music, a DJ, silent auction prizes and a 50-50 draw.
Meet the new Nighthawks
One of the highlights of the evening will be the introduction of this year’s Nighthawks players.
The team was finalized last weekend, and the players will be introduced from the stage before the band begins playing. Dowse says it’s also a great opportunity for people in the community to meet the families and volunteers who are part of the Nighthawks organization.
“Last year it was a great way to just meet them,” she says. “A lot of their families are in for the opening weekend. So for parents and billet parents and volunteers and everybody to meet, it was a great kind of kickoff to the year for us.”
Many of the Nighthawks players come from communities outside Niverville, making the event a chance for families and residents to get to know one another. Dowse says that was one of the things people appreciated about last year’s social.
“It’s just a neat way to meet people,” she says. “So just a great chance to get to know our community and kick off the year.”
Country music under the tent
This year’s entertainment will have a country theme, with local band “Play Something Country” providing the live music.
Dowse says the band includes mostly local musicians and will bring a country focus to the evening.
And even if the weather doesn’t cooperate, the party will go on. The social has had some rain in previous years, but the tent will keep everyone covered.
“Unfortunately, the last couple of years we’ve actually had rain every year, but obviously with the tent it doesn’t matter,” Dowse says. “The party still continues, and we’ll make do with what we get, I guess.”
The event is open to all ages, although organizers expect it to be more of an adult-oriented social that will run late into the evening. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through the Nighthawks website or at the door, as long as the event isn’t sold out.
Home opener follows Friday night
The Nighthawks will officially open the 2026-27 Manitoba Junior Hockey League season Friday, September 18, when they host the Monarchs at 7:30 p.m. The home opener will also include the raising of the Turnbull Cup and Centennial Cup banners, celebrating the Nighthawks’ championship season.
Then on Saturday, Dowse says the kickoff social will be just another way for the organization to make the team accessible to the community while raising some money for the club.
“We wanted to have another one like this where it’s just more affordable, and anyone can kind of afford to come and just hang out with the team and stuff,” she says.
The Nighthawks are also thanking the volunteers who are helping organize the kickoff party, along with Amrize, the local ready-mix concrete plant in Niverville, which is the main sponsor for home-opener weekend.
Dowse says the Nighthawks are looking forward to getting the season underway and welcoming the community out for the weekend.
