After four seasons with the Virden Oil Capitals, Dylan Thiessen’s hometown could be listed on the roster as Winnipeg/Virden.
“Virden absolutely is a second home for me,” Thiessen said. “I grew up so much here. I graduated here and got my license here. After the seasons are over, I still come back during the summer all the time.”
This will be his final hockey season in Virden. Thiessen, a 1998-born player who turned 20 in January, is headed to Pennsylvania’s Mercyhurst University in the fall. He would like nothing more than to cap his Manitoba Junior Hockey League career off with a strong postseason run.
“It is incredibly important to be successful in the playoffs this year,” Thiessen said. “We have a team that has the potential to be a very good team in these playoffs and we all know we are in a very good spot to win this season.”
Thiessen, who captains the team at home games, has played a big role in helping the Oil Capitals to their most successful regular season since moving to Virden in 2012.
“Consistent guy”
“He has been very consistent,” Virden head coach Troy Leslie said. “Night in and night out, he is probably our most consistent guy.”
The 6-foot, 203-pound Thiessen has posted MJHL-career highs of 20 goals and 50 points in 57 games this season. Accumulating only 22 penalty minutes, he shared the team’s CIBC Most Sportsmanlike award with Kyle Salaway.
“He creates and just makes good plays,” Leslie said.
The head coach praised Thiessen for being smart on both sides of the puck. The Oil Capitals staff trusts him to kill penalties in key situations. Thiessen won the team’s Black Gold Trucking Top Defensive Player.
Like a coach on ice
Leslie said that Thiessen is almost like a coach out on the ice at times. He noted that Thiessen has been a leader in certain ways since he joined the team.
“He is a mature kid,” Leslie said. “He has been mature from day one here. He is very observant. He quietly goes about his business in helping guys.”
This coming fall Thiessen will swap his familiar Oil Caps jersey for a Mercyhurst Lakers one. He will have at least one person there who can help him find his way around. His younger sister, Kyra “K.K.”, is finishing up her first year studying and playing hockey at the Erie-based school.
Med school plans
Thiessen plans to pursue a science degree with the hopes of going to med school to become a doctor.
The Lakers play at the NCAA Division I level, the highest in American university sports. Thiessen believes playing in Virden has helped him improve his game immensely. He said being able to be on the ice everyday has made him a better player.
While he is headed south, Thiessen takes with him great memories of his time in Virden.
“What I’ll miss most is all of my friends,” said Thiessen, who billeted with the Shawn and Debra Plaisier family his entire junior career.
“I’ve known some of these guys for all four years that I’ve been here and it will be different next year not seeing them every day.”
