The Niverville Nighthawks rallied throughout the course of game five but eventually fell 4–3 in a marathon double overtime game to the Winkler Flyers on the road Saturday night. Winkler now leads Niverville in their best-of-seven series by three games to two.
The top-seeded Winkler Flyers dominated throughout much of the night and outshot the Nighthawks by 49–21 margin.
Winkler jumped out to a 3–0 lead after the first period and appeared to have an easy night on their hands.
However, the Nighthawks have shown a lot of resiliency all year long, and it came through in a big during the second period when they scored three unanswered goals to the tie the game. Those tallies came from Merik Boles, Parker Carrier, and Holdin Getzlaf.
After a scoreless third period, the teams headed to overtime for the first time in this series. Finally, with seven minutes remaining in double overtime, Winkler scored the back-breaker to put Niverville on the brink of elimination.
Niverville’s Austin Dubinsky was tremendous on the night, stopping 45 shots.
“Our group has shown all year that we won’t back down or give up,” says Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “It’s one of the pillars that make this group what they are, and they sure showed that tonight.”
The Nighthawks are back in action for the pivotal game six on Monday, March 31 at the CRRC. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
“Home ice has been great for both teams in this series and our home crowd will be needed once again to give our group that shot of adrenaline,” says Hirst. “The toughest thing to do in any series is win the fourth game of a best-of-seven. Our group will be ready for Monday night.”
