SPOTLIGHT: Oil Capitals giving back to Virden

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This article was published 26/10/2017 (3153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On any given weeknight in Virden, Manitoba Junior Hockey League players are strapping on their skates with minor hockey players from the community.

The Oil Capitals are helping at every age level — from five-year-olds who wobble on the ice to kids who are learning to body check or bantam players considering strategies for their next game.

Beginning this fall, the Junior A hockey club paired two of its players as volunteer coaches with each Virden Minor Hockey team, up to and including the bantam level.

The players aren’t instructing necessarily, but may demonstrate drills and liaison with the head coaches. They show up to the practices of their team when they can, usually once a week, and sit in the stands for games when available.

It is simply another initiative of the Virden Oil Capitals to anchor themselves in the community that’s welcomed them with open arms since 2012, explained Jamie Hodson, director of business and hockey operations.

“These guys are young,” he said of the junior-aged players, who can range in age from 16-21, “and they’re heroes to these young kids. It’s great to get them on the ice, to help them foster these young kids who may be playing for us one day.”

Hodson said the club wants to become intertwined with a town already recognized for its roots in oil and agriculture.

“There’s an identity we want to build within the town, where people say, ‘You’re from Virden, that’s where the Oil Caps play.’”

On the ice with minor hockey teams is one facet of the franchise’s community involvement, which is also seen in classrooms and community events.

“We do anything from helping senior citizens move to being at the grocery store, helping bag groceries,” Hodson said.

In the early part of this season, the team has visited schools, helped with the Terry Fox Run, participated in a student leadership conference and attended a local bingo night.

Ingraining the club within Virden and the region at-large helps fill the seats — giving the Oil Capitals the third highest attendance in the league last season, behind only the cities of Steinbach and Winkler.

“We have to get entrenched in the communities and in Virden themselves in order to continue that relationship with the fans,” he said.

“And then at the same time, we want to help facilitate young players in western Manitoba who are going to play for our hockey club in the future.”

The team feels an obligation to develop a winning product on the ice as well. Their best seasons to date ran from 2012 to 2014, when they bowed out of the semifinal in consecutive years.

Businesses have bought into the club as well, including a number which sponsor game promotions.

Among them, there’s a contest where a child is announced on the PA system each game with the Oil Capitals starting lineup, seats are donated to youth and community organizations, the game’s hardest worker is recognized and squirts teams play during intermissions.

Financially, the team’s well-balanced, considering the downturn in the energy sector, Hodson explained, but he expects their fortunes, like that of their community, will trend upwards as the industry bounces back.

They’ve done tremendous work fundraising. Altogether, the club has raised $330,000 through 50/50 proceeds and charitable donations through the work of their foundation.

It’s another way to show the young men on their team the importance of giving back, Hodson said.

“Junior hockey is a privilege,” he states. “The more we can have them out in the community and helping the young people, the more we can teach our own players as well.”

One of the team’s owners, Craig Davidson, has taken a lead with the Crop Club, where agricultural partners give back proceeds from a crop to the club’s operation.

In addition to that, the Crop Club conducts tests, such as examining 22 different soybean varieties this summer, which is then shared with farmers and producers from throughout Westman and southeastern Saskatchewan.

“We never want to do anything that’s just a donation,” Davidson said. “That’s not the mantra of the Oil Capitals, we want to bring value back to the community.”

Doug Heritage is part of the group who purchased the club in 2012, then based in Winnipeg. He said they bought the team for reasons beyond themselves, but for everybody, from Virden and its surrounding communities, to enjoy.

“From that first day we announced it, at Victoria Park, you could feel the excitement and the energy of the fans that we were going to have, and we’ve continued to have such great fans through it all.”

As such, Kent Reid, owner and treasurer with the board of directors, considers the organization’s charitable efforts a “responsibility” to the neighbours that have their back.

He said the team’s philanthropic efforts would continue, alongside their bidding for on-ice glory. Excluding Wednesday night’s game, the club sported a 9-4 record, good for fifth place in the league.

“The next thing we’re going to do is try to win this thing, bring a championship.”

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