The Niverville Nighthawks gave the home crowd a real treat on Wednesday evening at the CRRC with a massive 6–2 victory over the Portage Terriers, one the league top-ranked teams. With the win, the Nighthawks stay in fifth place in the MJHL’s East Division with a record of 13–8–1.
Bryce Warkentine set the tone by scoring for Niverville just three minutes into the contest. Portage tied it late in the first period.
In the second period, the Nighthawks went up again with a goal from Luke Wagner. And Portage evened it once again.
That’s when Adam Vigfusson took over the game, notching a hat trick. This brings him up to 14 goals on the season.
Hayden Wheddon added the other Nighthawks goal to end the game 6–2 in the home team’s favour.
Niverville’s Austin Dubinsky stopped 23 shots in the win.
“We played aggressive in all three zones, and we didn’t give them much room to make decisions,” said Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “We pushed the pace to give no space for them. That’s been our agenda since day one and our club is starting to trust each other now that there is some camaraderie in the team. It’s about all five players on the ice doing what’s needed to play this way.”
The Nighthawks are back in action with a home game on Friday night against the Steinbach Pistons. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
The Nighthawks have also been forced to say goodbye to star netminder Raiden Legall, who has signed with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips for the remainder of the season.
“Raiden’s been called up on assignment to the WHL to cover for Everett’s two injured goalies,” says Hirst. “We wish him success for his time there.”
