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Kelvin Cech was named Head Coach of the Niverville Nighthawks MJHL team in January of 2022.
He wanted the job very badly, and was thrilled to get the offer.
“It was exciting, it was validating, and I was pretty fired up when I got the offer. And a year later here we are.”
When building the Niverville Nighthawks team, Cech said he chose two traits to focus on when picking players.
“Of course we wanted the biggest, fastest, most skilled, smartest and best players on planet Earth, but when you're a new franchise all those players are spoken for.”
He wanted to get players with good character and competitiveness.
“That's what we believe are the two most important things, and we're seeing the dividends,” he says. “We got pretty fortunate with the level of skill that we've been able to bring in as well.”
The Niverville Nighthawks didn’t even have a name at the start of 2022.
He says the community was extremely involved in choosing a name. Nighthawks was a name that was submitted in a newspaper poll.
"There were a ton of cool names. Ultimately, I think there was a vote plus input from our board. So, this is their team, and it's Niverville’s team, and it will be long after I'm long gone, and all of our players are long gone.”
He is also satisfied with the logo, especially since it was designed locally.
“Our logo is one of the best logos I've ever seen in my life. It was designed by a local artist in town named Brooks and he absolutely knocked it out of the park."
Cech says a lot of the guys on the team have come from different provinces and are people whose previous teams didn’t have space for them.
“We rallied around that. Even the guys graduating from U18 AAA in their home province might not have had a spot or they were going to be battling for depth positions with their teams.”
Cech grew up in Alberta and lived in B.C., so he shares the same experience in homesickness as some of the guys on the team might have.
“This isn't my first go around in the league, but I do share that with them... I'm also not from here, and I feel like I'm a transplant as well.”
The players have adjusted well to their new life in their billet houses.
The players can stay in their billet home for a short while, or for several years.
“We've got two 17-year-olds that could be in their billet house for 3-4 years and that's just incredible.”
Cech also holds a fond memory of billet-brothers bonding through their skate with Santa Claus.
“It was so cool to see Chris Fines skating around with his four-year-old billet brother, holding him, carrying him around, so it's been a fantastic experience.”
Although they are a fairly new team, Cech says the team doesn’t use that as an excuse for losing.
“That doesn't matter, and our guys don't think like that either,” he says. “Every game counts, every point counts. If we lose a game, there's no excuse at all.”
No matter who they play, they expect to win, and if they lose it’s not good enough.
"And that comes back to the league. We've beaten the best teams in each division, and we've lost to the lowest-ranked team. So, if you're not ready, then you know someone's going to work harder than you.”
The fans have brought lots of energy to the rink from day one. Cech says it’s amazing to have the arena packed at all the home games.
He recalls their home opener when there was an unfortunate Zamboni crash into the boards:
“Everybody was singing along and they're playing Sweet Caroline. And now that's a thing because we've had some glass issues, which I'm sure everyone's noticed, but they don't care. Because it's another 20 minutes to go grab another brewski, and the kids get to sing the song, and no one's going anywhere. It's such a cool vibe.”
He says Junior Hockey is all about community.
“If you don't have that community support, then it's really tough. Our home record reflects that, and we're home a lot in the second half, and we're really excited about it.”
The volunteers are a big part of what makes this all possible. From pouring drinks to selling merch, they need volunteers for all of it.
“By the time the puck drops for a game at home, they're all more important than I am, right? You look around and there are people who have season tickets who haven't watched a minute of hockey because they are doing tickets or they’re security.”
The community puts their all into the team, so the team puts their all into winning.
“If they're contributing that much, then the guys recognize it, so we better be working as hard as we can and shine when the moment counts.”
Looking forward to 2023, the team is excited to continue improving.
“Our standard of play has gone up, so we expect to compete every night.”
He notes that the team has had its fair share of highs and lows.
“There's so much excitement at the beginning and then you get into the November dip. It happens to everybody on every team,” he says. “And when we went through it, it coincided with some injuries.”
He says they are a lot more organized than they were a few months ago. There are also less injuries.
“We've had a bunch of broken hands which you wish didn't happen, but they're all from blocking shots. And those guys are coming back and we're getting healthy.”
At this point, the coaches know the guys inside and out.
Cech is hoping the Nighthawks qualify for play-offs and the community can see what an entire season looks like.
Besides success on the ice, Cech hopes to have a positive impact on the lives of his players and make sure they turn into great people going forward.
“That is what Niverville really cherishes and really wants to promote going forward, is the growth of these young men, and helping them get into the world the best way possible through school or whichever road they decide to take.”
He has high hopes for the future of each player and says they’re already responsible young men.
“Fortunately, our guys are pretty mature. It's fun to look to the future because we don't quite know yet where these guys are going to go.”
In a few years, he hopes to reflect happily on the team he’s coaching right now.
with files from Dave Anthony