The Niverville Nighthawks ended their four-game losing streak in style with a massive 8–5 win at home on Saturday evening against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.
It wasn’t an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the Nighthawks were down 3–1 after the first period and 4–1 just minutes into the second period.
That’s when something clicked for the Nighthawks. From there, they would rattle off five straight goals in the second period to take a 6–4 lead.
Niverville would add a couple more in the third period, with the game ending 8–5 in their favour.
Braden Panzer and Gavin Gunderson led the way with two goals apiece. Other Nighthawks goals on the night were scored by Brendan Bottem, Brett Tataryn, Josh Paulhus, and Isaac Rentmeester.
Chris Fines stopped 25 of 30 shots in goal for Niverville on the evening.
“It feels awesome, and I’m really proud of the guys for the win,” said Nighthawks head coach Kelvin Cech. “We were in a deep hole in the early minutes of the second period, but then we changed tactics. We stopped trying to do too much, and we started to have fun and enjoy each other out there. So to come back and get the win is fantastic.”
Cech was ecstatic to get the monkey off the back and get his Niverville club back in the win column.
“We scored a lot of goals early in the season, but then all of a sudden we couldn’t score for a few games,” he said. “Then we scored eight tonight and gave up five. So it was a fun night at the rink, and the crowd was buzzing, so we definitely fed off that energy. After the game, Braden Panzer said that ‘We’re back,’ and I think we all believe him!”
The Nighthawks are return to action on Friday and Sunday this coming week with a home-and-away series against the Dauphin Kings. On Friday, the Nighthawks are in Dauphin to play at 7:30 p.m., before returning to the CRRC for a Sunday afternoon matinee.
“Everyone contributes to the team in their own way, and it showed tonight,” said Cech. “We’re going to keep sticking to the process and hopefully get more positive results next week. I really believe in this group and am very proud of them today.”
