Plaisier looks to lead Oil Caps back to postseason

Ty Plaisier may not be one for big speeches, but he knows how to lead by example.

The 20-year-old defenceman and captain of the Virden Oil Capitals is in his fourth season with the club and has one goal in mind: To bring a Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship to his hometown, Virden.

“It’s championship time for sure. Virden hasn’t seen one yet, and it’s time,” said Plaisier, who grew up watching the Oil Capitals. “We’re going to put in the work, and it’s going to be team first all year, one game at a time, to get into the playoffs, and I think we’ve got the team to do it this year, so I’m excited about it.”

Plaisier and his club have come into this season extra motivated after they failed to qualify for the playoffs last year, which was the first time the organization had failed to do so in 10 years. It was a complete 180 from the seasons previous, when the Oil Capitals easily handled a first-place finish in the West Division with an impressive 40-12-3 record two seasons ago and made it all the way to the Turnbull Cup final against the Steinbach Pistons the year before.

If Plaisier knows one thing, it’s that he doesn’t plan on feeling the same way he did last spring.

“It was a brutal time not being in the playoffs last year,” he said. “Just sitting at home, doing nothing, being upset, and watching the other teams play bothered me and the guys on the team. It’s something we talked about a lot, and we learned that you can’t take anything for granted when it comes to the playoffs.”

Virden kicked off the 2025–26 campaign with a split against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, dropping a 4–2 game on the road before bouncing back with a 3–1 win at home at Tundra Oil & Gas Place on Saturday. Plaisier, who tallied a goal and an assist in Virden’s win, said he’s happy with how the group looks early on.

“I think we cover a lot of aspects of the game,” Plaisier said. “We can score goals, we’ve got hard workers, we finish checks. I think we’ve got a good, well-rounded team, it’s just simply getting chemistry built with guys and figuring out all our systems, but those will come. Not worried about that.”

Plaisier’s own game has come a long way since he first stepped into junior as a 16-year-old in the 2022–23 season. Known early on as a rugged, physical defender with a steady presence, he’s added a new dimension to his play. Last season, he posted an MJHL career-best with 18 points and four goals and is finding more confidence as a two-way threat.

He credits that growth to the veterans and teammates he’s played with over the years, including offensive-minded defencemen like David Bielik and Trevor Hunt, who showed him what was possible at the position.

“I think a lot of it comes down to just watching players that come before you and players that I have played with over the last four years,” he said. “You see guys, and you see what their habits are and what they’re doing and try to emulate that. Now as an older guy, you try and set a good example for the younger guys coming up so that they can emulate that and improve their game and improve the team overall.”

His development also got a boost from his time in the Western Hockey League, where he suited up in 17 games with the Regina Pats between 2022 and 2024. There, he shared the ice with elite-level talent like Connor Bedard and Stanislav Svozil and got a firsthand look at what it takes to play at the next level.

“It’s helped me tremendously just to see those guys, what they do on a day-to-day basis, how they eat, how they treat themselves away from the rink, and how they treat themselves at the rink because all of those things are all super important in what I do now,” said Plaisier. “Those guys are always the last ones on the ice working on skills, they’re always putting in the extra work, whether that’s stretching or working out and they just don’t leave anything behind. There’s no gaps in their whole life, they’re just really dialled in, and you can see it’s paying off for them.”

In the off-season, Plaisier trains in Brandon, mostly working out on his own with some guidance from Oil Capitals trainer Brock Davies.

Virden head coach Tyson Ramsey, who’s entering his eighth year with the organization, has also been a key part in influencing Plaisier’s identity as a player. Ramsey has shown a strong belief in Plaisier’s game night in and night out, and that confidence has paid dividends.

“Rammer is an unbelievable coach, I love playing for him,” Plaisier said. “He has a great relationship with all the players, he always is pushing us, and he’s been huge for my development. He believes in me, he trusts me, and I trust him. Hopefully that type of trust is what will lead to a championship.”

In June, he was told by Ramsey he would captain the team he used to watch from the stands for his last year of junior hockey, completing the full circle journey.

“It didn’t really surprise me, but I also didn’t see it coming,” he said. “Obviously I knew that I’d been here for a couple of years and I had a chance, but either way, whatever happened, I was going to be a leader this year on the team.

“It was awesome hearing the news, especially being a hometown guy. I’ve watched the Caps since I was like 10, so it’s pretty cool. My friends and family were all so excited, so it was awesome.”

Plaisier began playing hockey in Virden when he was around five years old and came up through the youth system with the Southwest Cougars AAA squad, playing two years with the U15 club and two with the U18 team. His first year playing U15 AAA at age 13 was when he believed that if he stuck with it and put the work in, he could make a name for himself and continue playing hockey at the junior level.

His teammate at the time, Bryce Bryant, shared the same mindset, and now they sit in a position they never would have imagined, both still sharing the same ice seven years later on the Oil Capitals.

“We grew up playing together for sure, and we’ve been buddies forever, so it’s pretty sweet when you think about it,” said Plaisier. “It’s exactly what you think about when you’re a kid playing hockey, ‘Maybe one day we will play for the Caps together,’ so it’s just an awesome feeling, for sure.”

Interestingly enough, Plaisier’s allegiance at the National Hockey League level isn’t to Manitoba’s team, but rather, the St. Louis Blues. He tries to mould his game after defenceman Colton Parayko, and given how important he was in helping the Blues to a Stanley Cup in 2018, Plaisier will be looking to lead and do the same for his team.

“I would say I’m definitely more of a lead-by-example guy. I’ve never been the best at giving a big ‘Hoorah’ speech, but I just put my work boots on, get to work, and hopefully guys see that and will want to emulate that as well.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com