It has been an incredible 2025–2026 hockey season. As the president of the Niverville Nighthawks, we as the board of directors want to express our heartfelt appreciation for the support of our fans, sponsors, founders, and community members.

When we began this journey, we set out to earn your trust. We wanted to ensure that every dollar raised through fans, corporate, and community support is used to benefit the community at large.

We are grateful that we were able to accomplish something so big in our fourth year: winning the Turnbull Cup and the MJHL championship. We are also grateful to have had the opportunity to advance and win the national title, the Centennial Cup. This has been an exceptional season. Our record to end the year was 69–7–1, among the best individual seasons ever recorded in the 107-history of the MJHL.

We want to express our appreciation while being open and transparent about our four-year journey. Through the efforts and commitment of 60-plus founders to date and their non-repayable $10,000 contributions, we have had more than $600,000 in investment to work with. Although we also have a $100,000 line of credit, we do not carry any debt.

This has been our financial outlook over the last few years:

- Franchise Fee to join the MJHL: $150,000.00
- Year 1: including startup costs, we posted a loss of $285,000.
- Year 2: loss of $85,000.
- Year 3: loss of $70,000.
- Year 4: we projected a small loss.

Note that although we projected a smaller loss for this past season, our revenues turned out to be stronger than expected with the extended playoff run.

Some of those revenues were offset, however, by the costs associated with travelling to PEI for the Centennial Cup. The host team and Hockey Canada provided the flights and accommodations for 30 players and staff, but we needed to cover the expense of bringing three more people, including hockey operations and a staff member to support our social media.

There is also the matter of purchasing championship rings for the players and staff, a cost that has not yet been factored in.

Even after all that, we anticipate drawing our first profit this year.

Along the way we also invested more than $475,000, in addition to a $260,000 government grant, to construct The Kettle, an office for our coaches, a sixth dressing room inside the CRRC, and new seating on the east side of the arena. These enhancements all came from revenues generated by the team.

As the board, it’s important to let people know that we are building something sustainable to last for a generation, and that we are building it for you—the community. When we have our monthly meetings, we pay for our own food. When the governor, or alternate governor, travels to meet with the MJHL’s board of governors, we are personally responsible for those expenses. 

This year, every board member paid their own way to the Centennial Cup and covered their own accommodation and meals. The volunteers who helped prepare food for the players also covered their own expenses. The board didn’t receive any complementary Nighthawks game tickets, whether during the regular season or the playoffs, or benefit from free bus travel. At the Centennial Cup, everyone purchased their own tickets.

We have always understood that to build a generational team like the Nighthawks, as a not-for-profit entity, we needed to allow time to build a solid revenue base. Even at the end of this highly successful season, we know that we haven’t yet arrived.

And yet this journey has been as epic ride. After our semifinal and final wins in PEI, we noted the social media posts from every major news outlet in Manitoba, and many from further abroad. Ron McLean from Hockey Night in Canada mentioned our win on two occasions during broadcasts of the Stanley Cup playoffs. We were acknowledged by Hockey Canada and the Winnipeg Jets. Premier Wab Kinew honoured the team with a lunch at the Manitoba Legislature, where all the political parties showed their great support.

Unexpectedly, after the Centennial Cup victory, Hockey Canada asked to take gloves and sticks from a few of our players. These are intended to be used as part of an exhibit at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

We so appreciate these incredible honours, and we pass them along to you, knowing that none of this could ever have happened without every volunteer, fan, sponsor, founder, player, and staff member. This team is truly a community effort.

Once again, thank you all for your support of the Niverville Nighthawks. Only three other MJHL teams in the modern era have captured the Centennial Cup. We have now joined that elite club, and you have helped make it a reality.

We ask for your continued support as we continue preparations for the 2026–2027 season. We also invite each of you to purchase or renew your season tickets as soon as possible.

Our next significant event is our annual golf tournament, scheduled for August 27 at the Maplewood Golf Club. We encourage you to enter a foursome as soon as possible and take advantage of this opportunity to take pictures with both the Turnbull Cup and the Centennial Cup.

Until the start of our new season in September, we remain committed to continuing the process of building on our past success—and of course, continuing to earn your trust.

Thank you, Nighthawk Nation!

—Clarence Braun, President/Governor of the Niverville Nighthawks, on behalf of the Board of Directors: Bryan Trottier, Dustin Krahn, Jeremy Braun, Will Curraco, Tony Martone, Tom Kleysen, Chris Leoppky, Darryl Berard, Kevin Lansard, and Nick Bergmann.