The Niverville Nighthawks gave it a strong fight but just couldn’t pull out the win on Saturday night as they fell on the road to the Waywayseecappo Wolverines. With the loss, the Nighthawks stay in fourth place in the MJHL’s East Division with a 14–11–1 record.
It was a strong start for Niverville as they jumped out to a 2–0 lead after goals from Ty Kennett and Josh Paulhus.
However, Waywayseecappo fought back in a big way throughout the second half of the game, scoring four times, including one empty-netter to defeat Niverville 4–2.
Ethan Kadatz worked hard in the Nighthawks goal, stopping 29 saves on the night.
“We did some things right to get ourselves up in the game,” said head coach Kelvin Cech. “Ethan was great in the net early and gave us a chance. And then we just made a couple of mistakes, and they’re a skilled team that turns the puck north as quick as any team we’ve seen so far. So we shot ourselves in the foot a bit with some mistakes, but they were able to bury their chances.”
Cech is proud of his team’s effort in the home-and-away series this weekend with Waywayseecappo as they are one of the top teams in the MJHL this season.
“We competed well these two games,” says Cech. “We would have liked four points, but two is better than none. So I think we earned some respect from them. We can work on some things from these games and try to get better.”
Overall, Cech is elated about where the team is at the halfway point of the season. There are many positives the team can build on for the second half of the campaign.
“Individually each player is coming along and is developing well,” he adds. “The guys have 25 games of experience now in the MJHL, which is very valuable. It’s crazy that we’re at the halfway point, but time flies when you’re having fun! We’re just trying to learn lessons in managing the game and the puck now.”
The Nighthawks return to the ice next weekend for a highly anticipated home-and-away against the league-leading Steinbach Pistons.
The last time these two teams met in mid-November, the Nighthawks pulled up a big upset.
“We have some practice time now, so we can work on some specific stuff that will be valuable, as Steinbach is a strong team. We’re going to try to come out and take them down.”