.JPG)
The Niverville Nighthawks took down one of the top teams in the league as they beat the Portage Terriers 6-2 last night.
The Nighthawks looked to rebound from 2 straight losses to the Virden Oil Capitals and hoped to put their best foot forward against the #6 team in the CJHL.
Brendan Bottom scored early in the first period (3:53) on a nice feed from Brett Tataryn. Under four minutes later as the Nighthawks were killing off a penalty, Bottom swooped in on the forecheck and scored again giving Niverville a 2-0 lead after 1 period.
New addition Braden Panzer scored a beauty as he raced down the wing and beat Portage goaltender, Bailey Monteith on the glove side giving the Nighthawks a 3-0 lead. Portage responded 16 seconds later making it 3-1 on a nice passing play of their own. Kaden Kohl took a Noah Wagner pass and capitalized on an odd-man rush, putting the Terriers on the board. After Portage found themselves in some penalty trouble, Nighthawk forwards Ben Whitford and Brett Tataryn scored power-play markers, giving Niverville a 5-1 lead after 2 periods of play.
The Terriers came out hard in the third and scored early on with a goal from Kian Calder at the 45-second mark. Austin Peters slid a pass across and Calder buried it past Nighthawk goalie Ethan Kadatz making it 5-2 in favor of the Nighthawks. Kadatz played a solid game and held strong on the scoring chances he faced while stopping 13 of 15 shots giving him his 3rd win on the year.
Ty Kennet scored an empty net goal with just over a minute and a half remaining in the 3rd, giving the Nighthawks a 6-2 road win. Niverville played a strong game from start to finish, while special teams played an integral part in the victory. The Nighthawks went 2 for 6 on the man advantage and were perfect on the penalty kill after the Terrier's PP went 0-7.
Next up, the Nighthawks travel to Neepawa to take on the Titans Saturday night at 7:30 pm and are back home to face the OCN Blizzard for a Sunday afternoon match-up. Game time is 3 pm at the CRRC.