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Marlen Edwards lifts the Centennial Cup into the air after helping the Niverville Nighthawks to a national championship. (Cassidy Dankochik \/ The Carillon)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Nighthawks took a 2-1 lead into the third period and calmly wound down the clock, with Marlen Edwards nabbing an insurance goal and Tyler Bernier icing the game with an empty netter. Hirst, who is from Lac du Bonnet, said the message to the team after 40 minutes was to break the final period into five-minute segments.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Don\u2019t) worry about the end-game, just worry about the process of getting there,\u201d he said on the team\u2019s mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all about just finding ways to keep those guys on their heels instead of us being on ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stonewall\u2019s Hayden Wheddon struck off the rush in the first and second periods to round out the scoring for Niverville.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The Niverville Nighthawks celebrate winning the Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I. May 17. (Cassidy Dankochik \/ The Carillon)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cAt some points in this tournament and in playoffs, we passed too many times, trying to make the pretty play,\u201d Wheddon said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mindset today was just, \u2018shoot that puck and see what happens.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Starting goaltender Austin Dubinsky was brilliant in the final, bouncing back from a mediocre tournament by his standards. He stopped 34 shots for the victory, picking up the game\u2019s most valuable player honours.<\/p>\n \u201cI just finally got in a rhythm,\u201d Dubinsky said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of (the semi-finals) I finally started feeling myself and today, the guys made it easy on me. I saw everything from the outside, no traffic. Kudos to the group. It was pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Austin Dubinky makes one his his 34 saves in the Centennial Cup final. (Cassidy Dankochik \/ The Carillon)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Nighthawks got off to a hot start, with Wheddon sniping home a shot off the crossbar and in to open the scoring when he was the third man into the zone on a three-on-two. Niverville had a great chance to extend the lead on a powerplay a couple minutes later, but instead the Capitals struck in unlikely fashion.<\/p>\n Alberta-born Dubinsky, who was named the national junior A goaltender of the year earlier in the week, hoping to spark a rush up the ice with the man advantage, covered the puck on a dump in and tried to throw it forward. The puck bounced right off the stick of a forechecking Jordan Shaw, who promptly popped the puck into a gaping net to make the game 1-1.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as that happened I looked at our coaches and our players and we all knew that there was not one more going past (Dubinsky) tonight,\u201d Hirst said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe played unreal. Save after save after save after save in key moments, just killing their momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n
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