Virden Oil Capitals Marketing Manager, Lindsey Gullett, will be relocating to Winnipeg this offseason to fill the role of Game Night Producer for the return of the Manitoba Moose with True North
Sports & Entertainment.
Gullett has served as the Marketing Manager for the Oil Caps organization for the past two seasons where fans have grown accustom to his game night experience in Virden along with other promotions
such as the Castle/Longshot T-shirt Cannon, Virden Subway Trivia, and annual Christmas music video that flooded the internet the last two holiday seasons.
“It's bittersweet for me,” stated Gullett. “The ownership group here gave me the opportunity to get started in the sports marketing field and the great fan support allowed me to run with different ideas.” Gullett
continued, “At the same time, the opportunity to join the Moose was too great to pass up and it just creates more opportunity down the road for myself and my wife.”
The Oil Caps are entering their fourth season in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and President Dale Lewis admits that they’ve been spoiled the last couple of seasons.
“We knew the day might some day come where Lindsey was going to leave us. He’s very creative and everyone sees what he does on a nightly basis. We will need to start the process immediately
to see if we can find another Lindsey Gullett out there.”
The hiring process for another Marketing Manager will happen quickly. Gullett’s first day with the returning American Hockey League club will be on July 20, leaving little time for cross over in
the position.
“A job description will be posted on our website and the CJHL website this week and we will go from there,” explained Lewis, on filling the position. “There will be a lot to learn for the new person and we look
forward to getting them involved right away.”
In other news, the Oil Caps staff were in Neepawa on the weekend to attend the MJHL’s Annual General Meetings and Draft. A tentative schedule has been drawn up from the weekend for the upcoming 2015-16 season which will include a balanced schedule amongst the 11 teams for the second season.
Virden will play their home opener on September 25 against the Portage Terriers and will also take on the Terriers along with the Neepawa Natives at this year’s Old Dutch MJHL Showcase in Winnipeg.
With Saturday's coaches meeting, league marketing meeting, and league scheduling meeting all in the books, the weekend shifted to the Roxy Theatre on Sunday for the annual MJHL Draft.
A strong rural talent pool had Chad Leslie (Head Scout/Asst. General Manager/Director of Player Personnel) and Head Coach/General Manager, Troy Leslie, position the Oil Caps with eight selections
throughout the six round draft.
The morning kicked off with the Oil Caps announcing their autoprotects which included Virden’s Tanner Andrew (F, South West Cougars AAA Bantam) and Oak Lake’s Riley Wallace (G, South West Cougars AAA Bantam).
With the fifth selection in the first round, the Oil Caps drafted Garrett Sambrook of Medora, MB. Also a member of the AAA Bantam Cougars program, the smooth skating defenseman served as the team’s Captain
this season.
The Oil Caps had a pair of picks in round two that included Marco Creta from Oak Bluff, MB along with Justin Lee from Waskada, MB. Creta, the Captain of the AAA Bantam Central Plains Capitals, is also
a defenseman who Chad Leslie says, “Is very competitive… Will be a leadership guy for our team.” Virden rounded out the blue line trifecta with the selection of Lee. Chad states that,
“We are proud to have Justin in Virden. Another competitive guy who plays with a lot of grit… Is going to be a great Oil Cap.” Without a third round pick, the Oil Caps traded their own fourth round
selection to the Winnipeg Blues for their third round pick along with future considerations.
This move resulted in the selection of Hunter Cloutier, 31st overall. Cloutier is a forward from Winnipeg, MB who suited up for the AAA Bantam Winnipeg Monarchs this past season.
Chad describes Cloutier as a “Terrific offensive guy who scores when it matters.”
Despite giving up their own fourth round pick, the Oil Caps retained a previous draft pick in the 37th spot overall where they drafted another leader in Jack Einarson. Einarson was the Captain of the Interlake
Lightning AAA Bantam team during this past season. Chad says that the forward is “Another terrific kid, leader, and very dangerous from the blue line in.”
The Oil Caps were not done there. Into round number five, the Oil Caps picked up Nick Hatley from the Pembina Valley Hawks AAA Bantam team. The product of Morden, MB is another defenseman who served as an alternate captain for the Hawks this season.
Chad mentions Hatley to be, “A big body who plays intelligent…Another great kid.”
Finally in the sixth round, the Oil Caps went off the board and selected Owen Blocker from Cooks Creek, MB. The forward played last season with the Eastman Selects AAA Bantam squad and was also drafted high in the WHL draft in the second round by the Swift
Current Broncos. If the WHL does not work out for Blocker, the Oil Caps are prepared to welcome him with open arms.
In total, the Oil Caps added 10 new players to their organization. Chad stated, “Overall we were very happy with our picks. We were able to get many of our targeted guys and we are going to see the
dividends of this draft down the road.”
