Hub game recap

The Steinbach Pistons opened the regular season at the TG Smith Centre with a 6-4 win over the Niverville Nighthawks, who were in their first-ever MJHL regular season game Friday night.

Prior to puck drop, the Pistons showcased their new intro video and introduced this year's team to the packed house.

20-year-old forward Dawson Milliken was chosen to be the captain for the upcoming year with Langley Kruggel, Travis Hensrud, and Josh Nelson wearing the 'A's. 

Once the game got started, it didn't take long for the Pistons to strike.

While on a power play, 20-year-old Ian Amsbaugh picked up a nice cross-seam pass from Neo Kiemeney and outwaited Niverville goalie Chris Fines, deked around the tendy before tucking in his first of the year to make it 1-0. Nick Mikan also picked up an assist on the goal.

Fines and Pistons starter Cole Plowman took over the rest of the first period as neither goalie allowed a goal. Niverville put on their work boots and created turnovers in the Pistons zone but Plowman was up to the challenge, stopping all 9 shots he faced in the frame. 

In the middle of the second, Steinbach activated the well-known quick-strike offense scoring 3 goals in 1:02.

First, it was a heads-up play by Amsbaugh to stay onside as Leo Chambers broke into the zone. Amsbaugh fought through the check of a Nighthawks defender to get his skate just over the blue line, allowing Chambers to not break stride as he cut towards the net. Chambers put a backhand wide but Amsbaugh picked it up at the half wall and hammered home his second of the game, to put the home team up 2-0.

Ten seconds later, it was local boy Ty Paisley bringing the crowd to their feet as he took a beautiful pass from Hensrud on a shortened two-on-one and buried it to make it 3-0 Steinbach.

Not done yet, Pistons power-forward Nick Mikan used his size and speed to break wide around the Nighthawks goal and caught Fines by surprise with a wraparound for his second point of the night and his first goal as a Piston to extend the lead to 4-0. Mikan wrapped up his first game with Steinbach with two points.

A few minutes later, a goal that will go down in Niverville sports history.

The Niverville Nighthaws first ever goal came on a power play as Brendan Bottem potted a rebound of a Carter Spirig shot that went wide to cut the lead to 4-1. 

Spirig would cut the lead in half in the final seconds as the dynamic forward broke into the zone and fired a shot that looked like it deflected off a defender and found its way over the shoulder of Plowman and in to make it a 4-2 game after 40 minutes.

With the momentum of those two goals towards the end of the second, the Nighthawks had a great chance to do even more damage starting the third on a power play but the Pistons dug in their heels and got a big-time kill to keep their two-goal lead intact.

Davis Fry would give Steinbach some more breathing room on a power play as the 19-year-old forward was able to walk out into the slot area and fire a perfectly placed wrister past Fines to make it 5-2 Steinbach. Fry's first of the year was assisted by Bluemnort's Spence Penner and Ty Paisley.

Nate Goodbrandson got into the scoring party as he showed off his elite shot. After bringing the puck into the zone, Goodbrandson found himself on his off-wing by the goal line. Instead of going around the net, the 19-year-old picked his spot and didn't miss as he beat the goalie, who wasn't expecting that kind of shot from that angle, short-side right up under the crossbar. The 6-2 goal was helped by Penner and Kiemeney, both capping off tidy two-point nights.

Once again, the scrappy, hardworking Nighthawks refused to go quietly. 

Brendan Kerr cut into the lead as the big power forward fought his way to the front of the net and tipped home a point shot from Luke Schaeffer to make it 6-3.

Less than a minute later, Gavin Gunderson snuck a quick shot through Plowman to bring Niverville a little closer at 6-4. Schaeffer picked up his second point of the night with the lone assist.

That would be as close as the Nighthawks would come as the Pistons wrapped up their home-opener with a 6-4 win.

Plowman picked up his first win as a Piston making 25 saves while his counterpart Fines faced 38 shots stopping 34.

Steinbach's power play clicked twice to finish 2-4 while the penalty kill was strong going 4-5.

The Pistons will travel to Niverville on Saturday for the first-ever game for the Nighthawks.

It's expected to be a rowdy crowd as the Nighthawks have a full day of events planned leading up to the 5:00 puck drop.

The game will be streamed on NivervilleNighthawks.mixlr.com with the pre-game show starting at 4:45 pm.