The Virden Oil Capitals hold a 2-1 lead in their Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs quarterfinal series against the Selkirk Steelers heading into the weekend.
Virden opened the series with a 4-3 victory on home ice, but fell by the same score the next night on the road as the Steelers evened the series. In game three, at Tundra Oil & Gas Place, the Oil Capitals blanked Selkirk, 4-0. Virden netminder Riley McVeigh stopped all 31 shots he faced to earn the shutout.
Game four will be in Selkirk on Friday night. The Oil Capitals host the Steelers on Saturday. If needed, game six would be on Tuesday in Selkirk with game seven, a winner-take-all affair, on Wednesday in Virden.
On Monday, Ben Dalke was named a runner-up for the Recycle Everywhere MJHL Player of the Week. The 19-year-old forward scored two goals in each of Virden’s first two playoff games last week.
Game One
Oil Caps 4, Steelers 3
With game one of the quarterfinals knotted at 2-2 after the second period on Mar. 10, Oil Caps head coach Troy Leslie encouraged his team to put more pressure on the visiting Steelers. Hometown product Tyler Kirkup led the way in that effort. With 1:37 off the clock in the final session, he put the Oil Capitals on top for good.
“Tyler Kirkup scored a huge goal for us early in the third period, which settled us down a little,” Leslie said.
Kyle Salaway gave Virden a two-goal lead on a power-play with 7:16 gone by. Selkirk got one goal back, shorthanded, but were unable to tie the score.
Dalke led the Virden attack early on as he scored the game’s first two goals. Virden led 2-1 at the first intermission. Nate Halvorsen tied things up for Selkirk in the second period.
McVeigh stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced. His Selkirk counterpart, Hayden Dola, faced 54 Oil Capitals shots and had 50 saves. Nico Labossiere scored twice for the Steelers.
Game Two
Steelers 4, Oil Caps 3
On the road on Mar. 11, the Oil Capitals outshot the Steelers 55-20. However, Selkirk was able to post a 4-3 victory. That win tied the series at 1-1.
“We directed a lot of pucks at their net,” Leslie said. “I thought their goalie was good. … We have to find ways to score and maybe get some more traffic in front of him. … We have to capitalize.”
Virden led 1-0 after the first period on a Dalke goal. Selkirk scored twice to open the second period with markers by Shanan McFadden and Dawson Martin. Dalke lit the lamp again. Selkirk’s Carter Barley and Virden’s Marco Creta then traded goals. The game went into the final period tied 3-3. Before three minutes were gone in the third period, McFadden was able to score the final of the game.
McVeigh had 16 saves on 20 shots. Dola made 45 saves.
Game Three
Oil Caps 4, Steelers 0
On Mar. 13, McVeigh and the Oil Capitals shut out the Steelers 4-0 to grab a crucial game three victory and take a 2-1 series lead.
“I think the guys are really coming together for playoff hockey,” Virden defenceman Garrett Sambrook was quoted on the team’s website as saying. “Everybody played a great game. McVeigh made some huge saves for us. He was the difference in the game.”
Virden had an impressive 57 shots on net. Rylee Zimmer scored on a power play in the first period to stake the Oil Caps to a 1-0 lead. In the second session, Sambrook lit the lamp. Virden closed out the game with third-period goals by Salaway on a power play and Zimmer. Kolten Kanaski recorded two assists. The Oil Caps were two-for-four on the power play and stymied all four of the Steelers’ power-play opportunities.
Dola started for Selkirk and made 47 saves on 51 shots. He was relieved by Zachary Bennett, who stopped all six shots he faced.
Catching Up With…
Owen Solecki(2014-2015) is studying power engineering at Edmonton’s Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Solecki capped a junior career that included five teams, three leagues, and three provinces with 20 games with the Oil Capitals.
“The thing I enjoyed most about playing in Virden was my team and my billet parents (the Whittles),” Solecki said. “As soon as I got there I was treated with nothing but kindness.”
After playing for Virden, the defenceman was the Rookie of the Year at Keyano College, but the Fort McMurray school’s hockey program was cut. He transferred to NAIT and was offered a spot on the hockey team but things did not work out due to his class schedule.
