Friends and family spent Thursday and Friday remembering and grieving for former Waterloo Black Hawks forward Jeff Nevitt during a two-day visitation in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Nevitt was 59.
He played for the Black Hawks during the 1985/86 season. Statistics from that year are incomplete, but Nevitt recorded at least 22 goals and 30 assists. He was among Waterloo's team leaders in both categories. The Hawks produced a 16-31-1 record to finish seventh in the nine-team USHL.
Nevitt had been a successful high school athlete in Bemidji, Minnesota, playing baseball as well as hockey.
During the summer of 1985, Bemidji State Assistant Coach Jeff Arf was hired to lead the Black Hawks. Nevitt and fellow Bemidji area standout Scott Johnson joined Arf in Waterloo and were significant contributors. Both recorded hat tricks in the first three Hawks games of the season: Johnson on October 4th against the St. Paul Vulcans, then Nevitt on the 12th during a 5-4 loss to the eventual Anderson and Clark Cup champion Sioux City Musketeers.
In late October, Nevitt celebrated his 19th birthday in Waterloo. Less than two weeks later, he was involved in the superlative offensive performance of the Black Hawks' junior era. On November 9th, the Thunder Bay Flyers visited McElroy Auditorium and scored an early goal. The home team delivered an unparalleled response: 18 consecutive goals. Waterloo won the game 18-2. Nevitt finished with three assists. Although that contribution to the box score looks modest on such a high-scoring night, it's worth noting that two of those assists came on the game-tying and go-ahead goals while the matchup was still in the balance during the first period.
Nevitt's second hat trick of the season was on New Year's Eve. He scored just 59 seconds after the opening faceoff, then completed the three-goal night with 1:23 remaining in the second period. The Hawks eventually took a 9-3 lead but had to hold on for a 9-8 road victory over the North Iowa Huskies.
On January 26th, Nevitt's goal with just over a minute remaining - and a sixth attacker on the ice - forced overtime during a road game in St. Paul. Rod Taylor notched the winner, and the Black Hawks celebrated the 8-7 victory. However, Waterloo would only win three of the 11 games which followed, eventually bowing out of the 1986 Clark Cup Playoffs in a three-game series against the Rochester Mustangs.
Although Nevitt would have been eligible to return for the 1986/87 season, his hockey career ended following a significant ankle injury. He returned to Northern Minnesota and his large extended family, enjoying the area's natural beauty.
Nevitt will be buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Bemidji.
