The Niverville Nighthawks kept it close in game one of their first-round matchup with the Winkler Flyers but fell 1–0 in a tightly played contest. Winkler now leads the best-of-seven series one game to zero.
It was a game in which Winkler dominated on the stat sheet. They outshot the Nighthawks by a 38–14 margin over the course of the 60 minutes.
However, some strong goaltending from Niverville’s Austin Dubinsky kept the Nighthawks in the hunt right to the end.
The teams were both held scoreless in the first and second period. In the final frame, Winkler broke the deadlock with a goal with under eight minutes remaining in regulation. The Nighthawks pressed but couldn’t get the tying goal.
Niverville’s Austin Dubinsky stopped 37 shots in goal in the loss.
“It was a great road game by our group and was a real chess match,” says Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “They had a third of their shots off the power play, so it was a great job by our penalty kill tonight.”
The Nighthawks are back in action for game two, this time at home on March 23 at the CRRC. The puck drops at 6 p.m.
“To score some goals in the series, it’s going to be more of a process of getting our game north more efficiently,” says Hirst. “Puck possession is going to have to be more important in the offensive zone and sustaining our offensive zone time.”
