The Niverville Junior C Clippers are back for another season. Former players Dominic Martens and Luke Toews enjoyed their time on the Clippers so much that now, a few years later, they’ve decided to get the team going again—this time as coaches.
Martens and Toews played Junior C in Niverville about seven years ago. At that time, their head coach was Todd Anderson, so the pair reached out to Anderson for help getting started. Anderson helped guide the young men through their first season in 2021–2022, and now Martens has taken over as head coach.
Previously, Martens was an assistant coach in Grunthal for a year, and he served as an assistant last year in Niverville. He’s excited to continue this new era of Clippers hockey.
“We had a tough start to last year but finished strong, winning our first round in the playoffs,” says Martens. “I have the utmost confidence in this team going into this season. It’s amazing having the most local Niverville players we’ve seen in quite some time, and we’re in a great position to build a program here for Niverville kids to continue playing competitive hockey after they’re done [with] minor hockey.”
From 2012 to 2015, Toews played on the team and says he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Now he has taken over as general manager.
“The Hanover Taché Junior Hockey League (HTJHL) is a phenomenal league and we wanted Niverville to be a part of it again,” Toews says. “The league provides local aged Junior hockey players (18 to 21) with an opportunity to stay in town and play competitive hockey while still going to school [and/or] working. We are really happy with the roster we have and we also got new jerseys this year which everyone was excited about.”
The third member of the Clippers staff is Cameron Funk. Funk played four years in the MJHL and after having watched some Clippers games last season says he was surprised at the quality of hockey throughout the league. So when the team asked if he would be interested in joining them as assistant coach, he readily accepted.
“I am excited for the upcoming season,” says Funk. “We have a strong group of players and should match up well with anyone in the league”.
The HTJHL has been around for 36 years and this season there are seven teams in the league: Niverville, Landmark, Steinbach, Macdonald, Lorette, Red River, and Springfield.
There will be 24 regular season games this year for the Clippers, with their home games scheduled at the CRRC.
The Junior C Clippers have their home opener Sunday, October 16 at 4:15 p.m. The cost to see them play is only $7 for adults, $5 for those between the ages of 12 and 17, and free for kids 11 and under.