It may not have been the prettiest win, but the Niverville Nighthawks stayed perfect to improve their season to 3–0 with a gritty 3–2 overtime victory versus the Portage Terriers on Wednesday night at the CRRC.

Dawson Zeller was the hero, capping off the night with his second goal of the game. The 19-year-old forward from St. Andrews, Manitoba redirected a perfect feed from Aaron Krestanowich, sealing a hard-fought win for the Nighthawks in front of a loud home crowd.

“We’ve talked a lot about resiliency and staying in the fight,” says head coach Dwight Hirst. “It wasn’t a full 60 on our part, and that’s three games now we haven’t put together a full 60 minutes, but I thought we stuck with the plan and came away with a big two points.”

Sluggish Start, Strong Finish

The Nighthawks were slow out of the gate, and Portage made them pay early. Just 2:16 into the first period, Wyatt Dreger gave the Terriers a 1–0 lead, finishing off a slick passing play from Drayden Uhrina on a three-on-three rush before sliding the puck between the legs of an outstretched Austin Dubinsky. 

Niverville responded midway through the first period with Kole Mears picking up a loose puck behind the Portage net and dishing a backhand pass to Zeller in the slot. Zeller ripped a shot over the glove of Terriers netminder Donavan Bodnar to tie the game at one goal apiece.

The Terriers regained the lead late in the second period after a miscue in the Nighthawks’ zone. Rhett Platt intercepted a clearing attempt and found a wide-open Trevor Hill in the left circle, who beat Dubinsky high on the glove side to make it 2–1.

The Nighthawks caught a fortunate bounce early in the third to tie things up once again. Loic Leduc, working from the corner, tossed the puck toward the Portage net, and it deflected off a surprised Bodnar’s pad and in. It was Leduc’s third goal in as many games to start the season.

With the score knotted, both goaltenders held firm down the stretch. Bodnar turned away 31 of 34 shots while Dubinsky was solid when called upon, turning aside 26 of 28 shots, allowing Niverville to force overtime.

Zeller Breaks Through

After being held off the scoresheet in the first two games of the season, Zeller’s two-goal night was a welcome sign for the Nighthawks.

“Dawson’s been a goal-scorer in this league,” says Hirst. “He knows how to put himself in position to score the types of goals we saw tonight. It’s nice to see guys like that step up and get to be the hero sometimes.”

Zeller, who tallied 19 goals last season, is expected to be a key offensive contributor again this year—but he won’t be the only one.

“This is going to be a scoring-by-committee team,” Hirst adds. “We’ve got a top line that gets a lot of attention with Hayden Wheddon, Adam Vigfusson, and Merik Boles, but after that we have what I call a 2A, 2B, and 2C. We can get contributions from all our lines, and we’ll be counting on that.”

Looking Ahead

Next up for the Nighthawks is a home-and-home series against the Winkler Flyers, starting Friday night in Niverville. It will be the first meeting between the two clubs since Winkler eliminated the Nighthawks in six games during last season’s playoffs.

“They’re a different team than last year, and we’re a different team,” says Hirst. “But it’s a divisional opponent, and the two points are big. The MGEU East is always a dogfight, so if we want to stay in the mix, we’ll need to be at our best.”

Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at the CRRC.