After vanquishing the Selkirk Steelers, the Virden Oil Capitals are moving on to face the Winkler Flyers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League semifinals.
Game one of that best-of-seven series will be held on Friday night at Tundra Oil & Gas Place. The Oil Capitals were 4-2 against the Flyers during the regular season.
“We have played some good hockey against them during the season, but we know they are a fast, dangerous team,” said Virden head coach Troy Leslie.
Before the team’s next opponent was fully finalized, Oil Capitals Director of Business and Hockey Operations Jamie Hodson said, “We are going to have to have our ‘A’ game every period of every game to win the series.”
Game two will be Sunday in Winkler. The teams will be back in Virden on Mar. 27 and game four will be Mar. 29 in Winkler. If needed, game five will be at Tundra Oil & Gas Place on Mar. 31.
In the other semifinal, Winnipeg and Steinbach will tangle. There will be a new MJHL champ as Winnipeg knocked off the three-time defending champion Portage Terriers.
The Flyers advanced to play Virden by beating OCN, 4-2, in the first round. During the regular season, Virden finished second in the league with a 40-17-2-1 record. Winkler went 35-25-0-0 to finish fifth.
“To me, the key is going to be limiting your turnovers and managing the puck well,” Leslie said of playing the fast Flyers who excel in transition.
Homegrown Winkler defenceman Mitchell Dyck led the MJHL with 12 points in six games in the quarterfinals. Teammate Brett Opperman paced the league in goals with six in as many contests.
During the regular season, Matt Christian led the Flyers with 32 goals and 81 points.
Virden advanced to the semifinals after beating Selkirk, 4-1, in the quarterfinals. The series had been tied 1-1.
“I thought after we lost in game two, we responded well,” Leslie said. “I thought that the game two loss was a good thing for us as far as refocusing and remembering to do the little things you need to do in the playoffs.”
Hodson said that Virden’s depth, with its speed and skill up front, was a key to the series. Eight Virden players recorded at least four points in the team’s five-game first-round playoff series. Ben Dalke leads the Oil Capitals in the playoffs with six points, including a team-high five goals.
The goaltending of Riley McVeigh also played a role in the team’s first round success. The Calgary product earned the Recycle Everywhere MJHL Player of the Week award. He was 3-0 in the crease last week with a 1.33 goals against average and a .954 save percentage.
“He has been real solid. After game two, he just settled in and had a calm confidence about him that put our team at ease,” Leslie said.
Game 5
Oil Caps 5, Steelers 1
With Virden leading the series, 3-1, on Mar. 17, game five was tied 1-1 heading into the third period with 750 looking on. At the 11:50 mark, Oil Caps forward Kyle Salaway scored on the power play on a shot from around the top of the circle.
“I saw that there were lots of people in front of the net and the goalie couldn't see much so I just threw it on net,” Salaway said. “We had plenty of chances throughout the game, but couldn't score so it felt pretty good to get that one past him.”
The Oil Caps then got rolling. Dalke and Jeran Knorr each lit the lamp to stake the team to a 4-1 lead. Salaway capped things off with an empty net goal.
“It was a huge sigh of relief knowing we finished them off and are moving on to the second round,” Salaway said. “We are all pretty excited.
Kirklan Lycar scored Virden’s first goal. McVeigh stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced. Selkirk goalie Hayden Dola had 35 saves.
Game 4
Oil Caps 4, Steelers 3
After Virden took a 2-1 series lead on Mar. 13, as reported in last week’s Empire-Advance, the Oil Capitals won 4-3 on the road on Mar. 16 to go up 3-1. The game was tied at 3-3 after the second period. With 5:30 gone in the third period, Lycar got one by Dola.
“It was a play where we got the puck deep and it came to (Kolten) Kanaski on the wall,” Lycar said. “He threw it out front and I was lucky enough to be in the right spot to put it in!”
McVeigh and the Oil Caps were able to hold the Steelers at bay the rest of the game and escape with the victory.
The Virden goalie had 25 saves. Virden sent 44 shots at Dola. He stopped 40 of them. Graeme Hore and Dylan Thiessen had Virden’s first period goals while Knorr scored in the second session.
