The Niverville Nighthawks gave it a good go against their likely first-round playoff opponent on Thursday night, but ultimately lost 3–2 to the Winkler Flyers on the road. With the loss, the Nighthawks stay in fourth place in the MJHL’s East Division with a record of 29–15–3.
Winkler opened the scoring midway through the first period. Their excitement was short-lived, however, as the Nighthawks replied just eight seconds later with a goal from Sean Williams.
The Flyers took back the lead a few minutes later to make the game 2–1, after which play slowed down considerably. There were no goals for the next 40 minutes of action, including a scoreless second period.
In the third period, Winkler broke through with another goal to increase their lead.
Just when it seemed the game was out of reach, with just under two minutes remaining, Carter Spirit found the back of the net for his ninth tally of the year. Unfortunately, the Nighthawks couldn’t get the equalizer and lost the game.
Niverville’s Austin Dubinsky stopped 27 shots in goal for the loss.
“It was a hard-checked and closely contested game tonight against a really good team,” says Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “It’s a team who we will be seeing a lot if the playoff positions stay the same right now, so we’ve got to see what we need to do firsthand to stick with Winkler for 60 minutes.”
The Nighthawks are back in action with a home game on February 22 against the Dauphin Kings. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
