By Derek Holtom
In the end, the Niverville Nighthawks would not be denied their destiny.
The Nighthawks clinched their first-ever league championship Thursday night in Virden as they beat the Oil Capitals 6-2, to win the Turnbull Cup in four straight games.
Niverville dominated the playoffs, posting a 12-1 record over three rounds. The Winkler Flyers were first to fall, and the Waywayseecappo Wolverines second. Wayway, in fact, was the only team to take a game off the Nighthawks, so kudos to them for giving the champs a bit of a scare.
Overall, these MJHL playoffs will not be remembered for being very competitive or having any sense of drama. There were no Game 7’s, only one Game 6 (Virden beating Steinbach to advance to the league final), and four sweeps, including the league final.
Niverville now advances to the Centennial Cup, where they will face the top junior A teams in Canada who still play under the Hockey Canada umbrella – the BCHL does not take part in this event after breaking away from the national hockey organization.
This year’s event takes place in Summerside, P.E.I., May 7-17. Four of nine teams have already punched their ticket to the event, including the host Summerside Western Capitals, the CCHL’s Rockland Nationals, the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers, and the NOJHL’s Greater Sudbury Cubs.
Good luck to Niverville in their first-ever national championship.
• The vacancies continue to pile up in the league as teams scramble to get coaches in place ahead of the league AGM slated for June.
The Winnipeg Blues are looking for a new head coach and general manager after they parted ways with Josh Gratton. The Brantford, Ont., native coached the Blues for the past two seasons, guiding them to an overall record of 27-79-8-2. He also served as an assistant coach on the Team Canada West team at the 2025 World Junior A Challenge.
The Blues have not qualified for the playoffs since the 2021-22 season, and usually end up battling the Winnipeg Freeze to stay out of last place in the East Division.
Since the Blues converted to more of a pay to develop type of franchise they have struggled to be competitive with the top teams in the league. Whoever the new coach is, they’ll have their work cut out for them.
• The Neepawa Titans are also looking for a new coach – an associate coach to join Ken Pearson behind the bench.
The Titans spent many years in the MJHL wilderness, but Pearson has got the Titans back to being a playoff team, though post-season success has eluded them so far.
The Titans are coming off a season where they finished 28-28-1-1, 10 points out of second place and five out of third. They were swept out in four games by the MJHL league finalist Virden Oil Capitals in four games in the first round.
• That is another wrap for me. Thanks all for reading – we’ll see you in August for the start of the 2026-27 MJHL season.