Two of the MJHL’s top teams went head-to-head Friday night. This opener of a two-game home-and-home series between the Niverville Nighthawks and Steinbach Pistons lived up to the hype.
These are the league’s top two teams by winning percentage and the Nighthawks came out on top with a hard-fought 3–1 victory over their East Division rivals.
Niverville got on the board early in the first period when Jaden Mah carried the puck into the Steinbach zone and found Evan Panzer streaking toward the front of the net. Panzer buried it past Pistons goaltender Chris Quizi for a 1–0 lead. The assist marked Mah’s first career MJHL point.
Moments later, the game came to a halt after a frightening incident. Pistons forward Zhenya Miles was hit from behind by Niverville’s John Scott, and he stayed down for close to 40 minutes. Both teams’ trainers, Jeff Eidse (Steinbach) and Justin Geisbrecht (Niverville), attended to Miles until paramedics arrived. He was then transported to hospital for precautionary evaluation.
Scott received a five-minute major for crosschecking and a game misconduct.
After the lengthy delay, both teams struggled to regain momentum, and the first period ended with Niverville holding the same 1–0 advantage.
The second period produced chances at both ends to start the period, with Quizi and Nighthawks netminder Austin Dubinsky turning aside several quality scoring opportunities.
Midway through the frame, Niverville doubled their lead when newly acquired forward Parker Rolston scored his first goal as a Nighthawk. Loik Leduc made a beautiful move around a defender and fed Rolston at the top of the crease for the tap-in.
Rolston, 19, was acquired from the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs on October 9.
Moments later, Niverville’s leading scorer Hayden Wheddon made it 3–0 with his seventh goal of the season. Collecting a loose puck behind the Steinbach net, Wheddon circled to the bottom of the right faceoff circle and ripped a shot over Quizi’s glove.
Steinbach responded just over a minute later when Ryan McDonald finished off a Logan Mehl feed on a two-on-one rush, beating Dubinsky blocker side to cut the deficit. But that was as close as the Pistons got.
Dubinsky stood tall the rest of the way, stopping 32 of 33 shots to backstop Niverville to their fourth straight win. Quizi was strong as well for Steinbach, turning aside 22 of 25 shots in the loss.
The defeat marked Steinbach’s first regulation loss of the season, dropping them to 10–1–1, while Niverville improved to 10–1–0, tightening the race atop the East Division standings.
Both teams won’t have to wait long for a rematch, as the series shifts to the Southeast Event Centre in Steinbach tonight for game two. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.