The Niverville Nighthawks kicked off their 2024–25 campaign in style with a massive 4–1 win over the Winnipeg Freeze on Friday night at the CRRC.
The jam-packed home crowd was treated to some stellar play from the Niverville side. The Nighthawks impressed in the regular season opener, outshooting the Freeze by a substantial 58–22 margin.
After a scoreless first period, the Nighthawks opened the scoring early in the second frame with Dawson Keller’s first tally as a Nighthawk. The Freeze tied the game a few minutes later before Merik Boles found the back of the net to give Niverville the lead again.
Zeller added his second of the night for the insurance tally.
In the third period, Luke Mackenzie scored as well for Niverville to make it 4–1, and that’s how the game ended.
Niverville’s Raiden LeGall stopped 21 shots in goal for the win.
“We got the pucks on net that we wanted to tonight,” says Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “We could have done a better job of taking the eyes away from the goalie, but we kept coming at them all night long, and then their goalie played outstanding to keep it close.”
Coach Hirst is quick to credit the team’s number one centre man, Dawson Keller, for scoring two goals on the night.
“It was a great game for Zeller with the two goals and he was awesome on the faceoff draws as well,” says Hirst. “Tonight, him getting both a power play goal and a short-handed goal was a big boost for the team.”
The Nighthawks are back in action with a road game on Sunday, September 22 against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines. The puck drops at 6:00 p.m.
“On Sunday, we just have to keep working on what we’ve been doing in getting pucks north and playing fast,” says Hirst. “After tonight’s game, we have to look at what we did well and continue to work on that to be successful.”
