The Niverville Nighthawks fell behind early and couldn’t get back in the game on Friday night versus the Winkler Flyers. With the loss, the Nighthawks stay in fourth place in the MJHL’s East Division with a record of 21–12–2.
Winkler scored just one minute into the game. They scored again early in the second period as well to make it 2–0. Niverville’s Avery Laliberte scored later in the period to make it 2–1, but that’s as close as the Nighthawks ever got on the night.
The Flyers scored three times in the third period, while only Bryce Warkentine scored for Niverville. When the final buzzer sounded, the score was 5–2 in Winkler’s favour.
Niverville’s Connor Graham stopped 20 shots in goal for the loss.
“It was one of those games where three of those five goals for Winkler go off a player’s shinpad or body. So our urgency to pucks and management cost us on those three, I would say,” says Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “It was just one of those games, but we’ll be sure to give Steinbach a better game on Tuesday.”
In fact, the next two games will both pit Niverville against number-one-ranked Steinbach Pistons, the first being a home game on January 7 and the second an away game on January 11.
