For the first time in franchise history, the Niverville Nighthawks are headed to the championship series in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, with a chance to capture the Turnbull Cup.

Niverville punched its ticket to the finals in emphatic fashion, routing the Waywayseecappo Wolverines 7–0 in Game 5 to close out the series. Six different goal scorers found the back of the net. The Nighthawks took control in the very first shift and never looked back.

Just 26 seconds into the first period, Calyb Moore electrified the sold-out crowd at the CRRC. After collecting the puck in his own zone, Moore burst down the left side and snapped a shot top corner over the glove of Jase Wareham to give Niverville an early lead. It was his first goal of the playoffs.

With the crowd still buzzing, Marlen Edwards doubled the lead with his second of the playoffs, and his second in as many games, to make the score 2–0 before the game was two minutes old.

Despite the early deficit, the Wolverines pushed back. They came inches from cutting the lead when a loose puck trickled toward the goal line behind Austin Dubinsky, but the Nighthawks netminder recovered just in time to keep it out.

Another dangerous bounce later in the period was cleared away by a diving Luke Wagner, preserving the blank sheet.

Niverville continued to capitalize on its momentum. With 37 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Merik Boles blasted home a power-play one-timer to extend the lead to 3–0. The goal was Boles’ second of the playoffs, and his second in as many games.

The second period brought more of the same. Moore struck again just 15 seconds in, finishing off a setup from Aaron Krestanowich to make it 4–0.

Midway through the period, Dawson Zeller added another on the power play, chasing Wareham from the game after a stellar playoff run.

Mariko Bercier took over between the pipes for the Wolverines, but the Nighthawks weren’t done yet. Kole Mears buried a cross-crease pass from Thomas Phillips late in the second to make it 6–0, igniting celebrations throughout the arena.

Adam Vigfusson rounded out the scoring in the third period with his ninth goal of the playoffs, tying for the postseason lead and putting the final touches on the series—a series that was much closer than the Game 5 score may indicate.

Dubinsky was flawless once again between the pipes, stopping all 18 shots he faced to record his second consecutive shutout. The Niverville netminder has now gone 165 minutes and six seconds without allowing a goal.

After the game, head coach Dwight Hirst credited both the offensive breakthrough and the team’s defensive identity.

“I think the dam kind of broke for us offensively tonight,” said Hirst. “Hats off to Jase Wareham. He had a heck of a series and kept his team in it.”

Hirst emphasized that while the offence was clicking, the defensive effort remains the foundation of the team’s success.

“The defensive side of the game is something we took a lot of pride in this season,” he said. “Defence wins, and you have to be able to play defence, play out of your own end, stay supported, and be connected.”

He also acknowledged the effort of the Wolverines and their coaching staff.

“Landyn Cochrane and his staff have done a great job this season,” Hirst adder. “His team battled a lot of injuries throughout the season, and when they all got healthy, they were a hard team to play against… they’ve shown they can compete with anyone in the league.”

While the milestone victory is worth celebrating, Hirst further acknowledged that it’s more about the road the team has taken to get to this point.

“This is about the boys, and them accepting that we can be hard on them by making them uncomfortable all season and pushing them in situations where they were tired in the gym, or on the track. In a seven-game series like this, we can look back at our lineup, rolling lines one through four, playing every second night. It really benefits our team when we can continue to play with pace and energy and play with a resiliency that starts wearing on teams because of our conditioning.”

The Nighthawks now await their opponent in the finals. The Steinbach Pistons kept their season alive with a Game 5 comeback win over the Virden Oil Capitals, who still hold a 3–2 series lead heading into Game 6.

The schedule for the finals has not been set. Once it has, The Citizen will publish a finals playoff preview.

See below for the game’s highlight reel.