Niverville Nighthawks stumble after clinching playoff spot

Niverville Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst was blunt and to the point after his team lost 5-2 to the Neepawa Titans March 9 at the Niverville Rec Centre.

“We’re trying to get ready for the playoffs, but it seems right now the guys, since we’ve clinched, have taken their foot off the gas,” Hirst said.

“Especially tonight it showed. Our special teams were not good. We gave up three powerplay goals, gave up a shorty, and basically that’s the game.”

The Nighthawks locked up a playoff spot after a 7-1 victory over the Winnipeg Freeze March 5, before promptly dropping games to the Selkirk Steelers and Neepawa Titans, teams they are ahead of in the standings.

“It’s not a matter of getting to playoffs and turning it on like a light switch, it’s got to be starting to rev up here,” Hirst said.

“I think the guys have to get back to what drives our success and right now we’ve got to find it.”

Referees nearly completely lost control of Niverville’s loss to Selkirk, as immediately following an empty net goal to give the Steelers a 4-2 lead, Ty Easton dropped the gloves and started throwing punches at a Niverville player, with a second fight starting as well. Easton was given a penalty and suspension for a one-man fight, with Sean Williams nabbing a one-game suspension after picking up his fourth goaltender interference penalty of the season.

The teams combined for over 150 penalty minutes, including two bench minors for unsportsmanlike conduct given to the Nighthawks.

Niverville will have three games to try and find their game before the playoffs begin, with a home-and-home against third-place Portage and a final game of the year against the Winnipeg Freeze.

“If our players can’t figure this out right now and stay disciplined, it’s going to be an early spring for us,” Hirst said, emphasizing the team will need to stay out of the penalty box to find any success in the playoffs.

“Right now we’re losing some of that maturity and composure, because we’re getting caught up in those moments.”

The Nighthawks are staring up at a beast of a first-round opponent in the Winkler Flyers. After a relatively slow start to the season, the Flyers have looked like a team possessed. Six of their eight regulation losses this season came before Nov. 6, and they’ve risen to sixth in the national junior A rankings.

“They’ve got guys in their line-up that are blocking shots, eating pucks, taking hits,” Hirst said, analyzing Winkler’s game.

“They’re doing all the exact little things right and they’re just making the simplicity of the game look easy, and right now we’re not making things look easy… We’re fighting those moments and it’s biting us in the arse right now.”

The Steinbach Pistons are sitting in second place, and have been locked into a first-round match-up with the Portage Terriers for a while now, officially clinching home ice with a 5-0 victory over the Winnipeg Blues.

Steinbach rolled out a severely undermanned line-up against the Blues, with only 10 forwards in the line-up, including affiliated player Blake Farthing.

Farthing was listed as the 10th forward in the line-up with forwards Cole Carins, Bryaden Barnett, Sam Zagari, Ty Paisley and Luc DeGagne all missing time. That didn’t stop the Pistons from rolling, including Connor Paronuzzi, who set the Pistons single-season points record with a goal and an assist to pass the 91 point mark, set by Brad Schoonbaert in 2018.

The Pistons will need to work hard to remain focused for these final games of the regular season, as they move into their new home at the Southeast Event Centre. Steinbach plays two regular season games at the centre March 14 and 15.

The team’s final game at their temporary home in La Broquerie was March 7, as the team capped off their time in La Broquerie with a 6-4 victory.

Fans got a memorable, entertaining game to send out the building, with Steinbach falling behind 3-1 early in the second frame before storming back to take a 4-3 lead in the same frame, only to give up a late-period equalizer.

Matthew Munro and Ryan McDonald scored in the final frame to ensure a Pistons victory.

The day before, Steinbach lost 3-1 to a hungry Virden team, which are still locked in a battle for the final West Division playoff spot with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

The Oil Capitals took a 1-0 lead late in the first period and held on for dear life, only generating 7 shots in the second and third period combined. Two of those shots would give Virden insurance, with Tyler Dodgson and Bryce Bryant striking in the third period for the home team.

Bryant took advantage of some sloppy penalty killing from the Pistons. As two players rushed a defender at the centre of the blueline, Bryant was left all alone with a clear runway from the left point to the net, and made no mistake in tight to give the Oil Capitals a 3-0 lead and a key two points in their quest to make the playoffs.