Over the last month, a lot has been happening with the Niverville Nighthawks.
The Nighthawks held their first-ever Junior ID Camp from April 20–22, an event which featured many players who are going to be vying for a spot in the line-up when training camp begins in the fall.
Signed players who attended the camp include Devin Benson, Carter Spirig, Eric Martin, and Jack Lambert.
“The first camp we had was kind of unique,” says Nighthawks head coach and general manager Kelvin Cech. “We called it a Junior ID camp for our players that we committed to already and older players as well. It was just a tight camp to see these guys in action, so that was super cool and something you don’t do every season. But it was a big success, and it was amazing to see our team in its colours for the first time on the ice.”
The Nighthawks then hosted a Spring ID Camp from May 5–8. This event was composed of primarily local Manitoba players who were born between 2004 and 2007.
“The second camp was more of a traditional Junior A spring camp, with more younger Manitoba players, and a small army of scouts and coaches,” says Cech. “This was a way for the organization to start to build a database of younger Manitobans for the future.”
In building its inaugural team, the Nighthawks staff has had to search far and wide to fill out its roster for the upcoming 2022–23 season, as most of the top-end talent in Manitoba has already been claimed by other MJHL teams.
One new addition to the team is recently signed forward Taylor Haggerty. The six-foot 18-year-old Haggerty has spent the last two seasons developing with the OHA Edmonton U18 Prep team and is excited at the prospect of coming to Manitoba to play Junior A hockey.
“With the list system in Manitoba, each team has a 50-man protected list, so a lot of the top-end talent has already been claimed for,” explains Cech. “But there’s still lots of talent out there for sure. Our strategy has been to go out of province and find some older guys who are done with minor hockey and done with the U18 level to help make us competitive from the start. Players like Taylor Haggerty and those 2004-born players will get a good opportunity to compete for a spot in the lineup. We really believe in them and think they can chip in right away on our team.”
Cech and his staff have been working hard over the past few months to find players who will fit into the Nighthawks mould.
“My assistant GM Mike McAulay and I from day one want the best players possible, of course,” he adds. “But more importantly than that, we want the best people. We’ve been looking for character first and foremost and compete. All of these guys that we’ve committed to, that’s what they’ve got, because if it were easy, every team would be in the Centennial Cup like the Dauphin Kings right now. But it’s not easy! So we need guys that can chip away and be resilient when things don’t totally go our way.”
The next big step for the Nighthawks organization is the upcoming 2022 MJHL Draft, which will be held on June 4. The draft will take place online, and all selections will be made known to the public in real-time.
As previously announced in 2021, the MJHL Draft has moved from a U16 draft (formerly the Bantam Draft) to a U17 draft, highlighting players who are going into their 16-year-old season. Players who will be eligible for the MJHL Draft are those who are registered to play hockey in Manitoba according to Hockey Manitoba regulations and are in their sixteenth year, meaning they were born in 2006.
“The MJHL Draft is like Christmas for our Mike McAulay,” says Cech. “For our franchise, it’s the first time that we can stake our claim and make sure we can get good 2006-born prospects.”
The exciting thing for the Nighthawks is that these future draft picks can potentially step in and play next year.
“Traditionally, the draft has been a year earlier, so they wouldn’t be able to play,” he adds. “So the 2006-born players can now step into the lineup next season, which is super awesome. We’ve set up a bit of a war room for the draft, and the day goes by really quickly. It’s intense. You want to make the right picks, but we’ve got a list, and as long as we trust and stick by that list, then we should do fine.”
