Prior to Saturday evening’s playoff game between the Minnedosa Bombers and the Virden Oil Kings, we honoured our coach Perry Kalynuk who we lost the previous Thursday evening. As a
husband, father, teacher, coach, mentor and friend, Perry exemplified what true community spirit is all about. His contributions to our sporting community are just too numerous to mention here tonight.
This past fall Perry volunteered to join Oil Kings executive to help give back to our community. He then asked if he could help out even more and went behind the bench to do what he did best - teach and coach our players to become better athletes and citizens, as only he knew how and which he loved to do.
President Craig Russell, Team Captain Joel Cosens, Assistant Captain Monty Lawrence, Danny Cochrane and Ryan Mathieson came forward and presented Perry’s wife Marion and members of the Kalynuk family with a signed Oil Kings jersey with Perry’s hockey #16, ‘C’ for coach and his nickname “Snipes” on it.
We had hoped to give it to Perry himself but unfortunately that was not meant to be.
We then asked all in attendance to rise and remove their headdress and observe a moments silence in honour of this truly amazing man.
Our season came to an abrupt end Saturday night at the hands of the Minnedosa Bombers who walked away with a 6-0 victory for a 3-0 series sweep of our first round 5-game
playoff series. Michael Birch continues to produce, scoring twice with Devin Foord, Shane Jury, Matt Saler and former Oil King Derek Cameron all adding helpers.
Cory Hodgson and Wyatt Rapsky both had multi-point games. The Bombers lead 1-0 after the first and 2-0 after the second after strong play by Virden netminder Ryan Mathieson. The Oil
Kings could not contain the Bombers through three periods however, as they exploded for four goals in the final frame.
Logan Roach finished the game with a very solid outing not allowing a goal and giving the Oil Kings a chance to battle right to the end.
The Oil Kings came out with a lot of heart and battled right to the final whistle. Despite the loss, this was still one of the most successful seasons the Virden Oil Kings have had in recent
memory. From our four game winning streak to clinching a playoff birth, it was a season full of positives. We had a number of veterans return to our team giving us a solid leadership core to compliment our exceptional young talent we had join the team this season.
We appreciate all of the volunteers who make our games work along with all of our loyal fans who continue to stick by our side through thick and thin.
We will use this positive season to build on so we can be back in the playoffs next year! Next up for the Oil Kings is a year-end Easter Social in April.
