Draper’s hot start pushes Oil Caps up rankings

The Virden Oil Capitals sit atop the Manitoba Junior Hockey League standings and are rapidly climbing the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings thanks to a seven-game winning streak to start the 2026-27 season.

“We want to finish first in the division and try to be first in the league,” said 2007-born forward Tyson Draper.

The weekly CJHL rankings are incredibly subjective since there is no cross-league play until the Centennial Cup at the end of the year. However, they are an interesting look at Junior A hockey across Canada and a nice accolade for the teams that make the top 20.

After losing their opening game of the season to Waywayseecappo, Virden is on a seven-game winning streak and has subsequently gone from outside the top 20 to sixth in the rankings over the last three weeks.

“Six and one is a really good start for us, but there’s a long way for us to go certainly on our side of the puck,” said head coach Tyson Ramsey after their win over the Winnipeg Blues on Saturday. “I’ve liked our offensive ability to this point. We weren’t sure where that was going to come from, but we’ve been really good.”

A major source of that offence, and a reason for Virden’s success, is the start of what could be a breakout campaign from Draper in his third season with the Oil Capitals.

“He’s been one of our most consistent guys since the start of the year, and it’s shown on the scoresheet,” said Ramsey. “He scores, but he’s (also) a big body that challenges D-men and can get in on the forecheck and be physical up ice and hang onto pucks in the offensive end of the rink.”

Draper currently sits third in the league in points with eight goals and eight assists in eight games. His seven-game goal streak dating back to Sept. 19 is the longest active streak so far this season, and his seven-game point streak is the third-longest active point streak this year behind Northern Manitoba’s Matthew O’Sullivan (10) and Waywayseecappo’s Carter Haney (8).

Putting it simply, when Draper scores, the Oil Capitals win.

“(I’m) sticking to my game and not doing anything else,” said Draper about his success. “Just playing my style; bumping and grinding, going to the hard places and making simple plays.”

Born in Oak Lake, just 15 minutes down the road, Draper is pretty much a homegrown product for the Oil Capitals, something that makes it easy to root for him from a fan perspective.

“I started in Hartney, actually,” said Draper about the beginning of his hockey career. “I played squirts and novice there when I was younger and then came to Virden and played Virden minor hockey all the way growing up until Southwest Cougars U15.”

Hockey grabbed hold of his attention from the beginning because, in his words, there’s no better feeling than the excitement of the game and scoring a goal. He does, however, golf and ski in his free time.

During the off-season, he’s also a member of the Virden Oilers baseball team that defeated the Springfield Braves 5-3 to win the 2026 Senior A Provincials in July.

Whether it’s baseball or hockey, the Virden community is something that Draper cherishes as a local player.

“It’s fantastic … I get close to a hometown crowd, and I’ve got a lot of local fans who are very supportive,” said Draper.

He first joined the Oil Capitals during the 2024-25 season, during which he scored eight goals and added seven assists in 51 games. The following year, he made steady progress, scoring 11 goals and 25 points in 55 games.

With the way he started his third year in Virden, he’s on pace to smash those totals with 58 goals, 58 assists and 116 points in 58 games played.

“It’ll be tough, but I have to stay in front of the net,” said Draper about potentially hitting those numbers. “I’ve got a lot of greasy goals this year, and they don’t ask how.”

That kind of improvement doesn’t come from nowhere.

“The sky is the limit for him if he wants to continue to play a simple game and do the things that he’s really good at,” said Ramsey. “He can be one of the most impactful forwards, certainly on our team and in the league.”

Simple is a word that comes up a lot when discussing Draper’s game. At six-foot-three, he plays net-front on the power play and thrives when he can bang home pucks and screen goaltenders.

While scoring is something he loves, he isn’t chasing personal accolades. Last season, he and the Oil Capitals made it to the MJHL final, where they lost to Niverville, who subsequently went on to win the Centennial Cup.

Draper took part in that series and learned some important lessons from the loss.

“We got stopped by Dubinsky,” said Draper, adding that staying hard on goaltenders and getting a few early goals in front of the net goes a long way in a playoff series.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the MJHL has been a model of parity with a different champion each of the last five years. Virden and Draper want this year to be theirs.

“I’d like to see us be just a little tighter in our own end of the rink and through the neutral zone,” said Ramsey about the rest of the season. “If we’re going to beat some of the better teams, we’re going to have to clean that up.”

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com