The Virden Oil Capital gave their fans plenty to cheer about last week.
The Manitoba Junior Hockey League squad earned five out of a possible six points last week. That success helped the team improve its record to 30-22-3-2 on the season. Waywayseecappo and Virden each had 65 points and sat fifth and sixth, respectively, in the MJHL standings.
“We are playing with speed, generating a ton of scoring chances and getting out of our own zone efficiently and when we don’t, we are able to defend and keep things to the outside,” Virden head coach Tyson Ramsey said.
Although pleased with his squad, Ramsey said that if there is one area where he would like to see improvement, it is the powerplay. Virden was two-for1-10 with the man advantage last week.
“It has created momentum for us but, at the end of the day, you need it to win games at this time of year,” Ramsey said. “We will continue to make some small changes and refine some things moving ahead.”
As of Sunday, Virden had three games remaining before the postseason. It was to host Swan Valley on Thursday, play in Waywayseecappo on Saturday in a game that could have a big impact in the standings, and host Dauphin on Sunday.
Oil Caps 2, Blues 1 OT
Virden got its week started with a big shorthanded, road victory over the Blues. The team had three 16-year-old affiliated players – Sam Mitani, Roux Bazon and Oak Lake’s Hunter Wallace – thrust into the lineup.
“It was a good character win for us,” captain Kolten Kanaski said. “Being down lots of bodies due to injury made us call up some younger players and they did a fantastic job stepping in. Now we are looking forward to playoffs and having a fully healthy lineup.”
Jack Einarson scored in the first period for Virden, but the Blues tied things in the second. Einarson was credited on the scoresheet with the overtime goal, but he said it was Kanaski who scored on the powerplay.
“Once we got control of the puck in the offensive end, Wojo (Jayden Wojciechowski) made a pass to me by the left faceoff dot and then I managed to direct the puck towards the net where it then went off a Blues player and into the back of the net,” Kanaski said.
Kyle Kozma had 24 saves for Virden. Winnipeg’s Cooper Hatfield stopped 38 shots.
Natives 4, Oil Caps 3 OT
Ramsey said he thought if you asked the Oil Caps, they would say they feel they let this one get away. However, he said Neepawa played hard and had great goaltending.
Natives netminder Michael Davis turned away 57 of the 60 shots he faced. Kozma made 20 saves for Virden, which led 1-0 in the first on an Owen Blocker goal. Neepawa took a 2-1 lead in the second and went up 3-1 in the third. Tristan Thompson and Jaxon Heeney scored to send it to OT. Neepawa’s Konnor Carlson had the winning goal.
Oil Caps 4, Blues 3
Third period goals by Darren Gisti, a defenceman, and Kanaski broke a 2-2 tie and propelled Virden to the victory. Heeney and Hunter Cloutier had the Oil Caps’ other goals. Ethan Peterson made 29 saves, while his Blues counterpart, Will Gurski, stopped 40.
