The Niverville Nighthawks put an end to the Winkler Flyers’ hopes of reclaiming the Manitoba Junior Hockey League title by sweeping their best-of-seven playoff series in four games straight.
Niklas Gudmundson leads the charge up the ice. He was the Flyers’ scoring leader in the playoff series against the Nighthawks
Following up on an 8-2 rout in game one and a narrow 2-1 win in game two, the Nighthawks eked out victory in game three 3-2 at home March 25 and then blanked the Flyers in their own rink 4-0 March 27 to advance to the next round.
Joshua Ingram had Winkler in the lead less than a minute into Wednesday night’s game, but the Nighthawks fired in two in the second and one more late in the third. A goal in the 18th minute from Niklas Gudmundson just wasn’t enough to close the gap.
Liam Ernst made 24 saves that night off the 27 he faced. His teammates sent 26 the other way.
Two nights later, Winkler fans filled the Centennial Arena hoping their team could pull off a win to stay in the running, but the Flyers struggled to find a chink in the Nighthawks’ armour, despite outshooting their opponents 38-27.
The visitors scored twice in the opening frame and then added more unanswered goals in each of the remaining periods to win it all.
Niverville will now face the Waywayseecappo Wolverines while the Steinbach Pistons take on the Virden Oil Capitals in the league’s second round of playoffs.
For the Flyers, it’s the end of a season that saw them rank a solid fourth in the MGEU East Division standings with a record of 34-20-2-2 and 72 points, trailing the Nighthawks in first (103 points and just seven losses to their names), the Pistons in second (96 points), and the Portage Terriers in third (79 points).
