With a 4-2 semi-final series loss to the top seeded Steinbach Pistons, the Virden Oil Capitals’ Manitoba Junior Hockey League season has come to an end.
In front of a reported crowd of 976 at the Tundra Oil & Gas Place on Monday night, the No. 5 Oil Caps fell 4-2 in game six of its best-of-seven series. Two contests were decided in overtime. Three were one-goal games.
“Our guys played a great series,” Virden head coach Tyson Ramsey said. “They competed very hard. Games one and three that went to OT could have gone either way and maybe changed the outcome. Our guys left it all out there and that’s all you can ask from them. I am very, very proud of them.”
The MJHL finals feature the league’s top teams from the regular season in Steinbach (42-9-2-1) and Dauphin (41-12-1-0). Virden went 30-20-4-0 in the regular season. As the MJHL West’s third seed, the Oil Caps swept the division’s No. 2 Waywayseecappo (33-18-2-1) in the first round of the playoffs.
Game Six
Pistons 4, Oil Caps 2
After trailing 1-0 at the end of the first period and 2-0 about halfway through the second on Monday, the Oil Caps battled back. Elkhorn’s Parker Johnson lit the lamp to cut the deficit to one, 2-1, in the second session. Teammate Branden Huminuk knotted the contest at 2-2 less than five minutes into the third. Shortly before the period’s halfway mark, Dawson Milliken’s second of the night gave Steinbach the lead. As Virden pulled its goalie late in the game, the Pistons added an empty net marker.
“I think we just had some trouble getting the puck to go in,” Ramsey said of the difference in the contest. “I felt that they were able to capitalize on their chances when they needed to and we generated chances and I like our approach, but we weren’t able to score.”
Virden goalie Bailey Monteith stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced. Simon Harkness made 28 saves for Steinbach.
Game Five
Pistons 8, Oil Caps 2
In the only contest in the series decided by more than two goals, the host Pistons took a 3-2 series lead on April 23. Steinbach led 3-0 after the first period. Braden Fischer and Nathan Driver scored for Virden in the second, but the team found itself in a 7-2 hole at the second intermission. Steinbach tacked on a goal in the third.
The Pistons were 2-for-5 on the powerplay. Virden was 1-for-4. Monteith started and made 22 saves on 29 shots. Virden’s own Eric Reid had 10 saves on 11 shots in relief. For Steinbach, Harkness recorded 22 saves.
Game Four
Oil Caps 2, Pistons 1
Virden rebounded from a loss the night before to prevail on April 21 and knot the series at 2-2. In front of 957 at the TOGP, Driver staked the hosts to a 1-0 early lead. Steinbach tied the game late in the first period. The contest was deadlocked going into the third. Captain Logan Rands, a defenceman, delivered for the Oil Caps on the powerplay to give the team the lead for good.
Monteith stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced. Harkness had 31 saves.
Game Three
Pistons 5, Oil Caps 4 OT
After the squads split the fist two games – including an overtime contest – in Steinbach, the Pistons took a 2-1 series lead with an OT victory in Virden with 1,053 looking on. Cooper Rice scored just 22 seconds into the extra sessions for the Pistons.
The game was knotted at 1-1 at the first intermission. Steinbach led 3-2 going into the third. Late in regulation, with Virden trailing 4-3, Fischer proved once again why he was the league’s MVP. He scored on a penalty shot to tie the game.
Virden’s other goals came from David Bielik, Trevor Hunt, and Dylan Halliday. Monteith had 18 saves. Harkness stopped 13.
