Roberts, Pistons set for MJHL title series

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This article was published 22/04/2023 (1078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Landon Roberts has had an eventful final year of junior hockey.

After being released by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the summer, the 20-year-old forward from Souris joined the Swift Current Broncos in the hopes of landing one of three overage spots on the Western Hockey League club.

Roberts scored a goal in two games for the Broncos but was released in early October and latched on with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Steinbach Pistons.

Nearly seven months later, he has a chance to win a championship as the Pistons start the 2023 Turnbull Cup final on home ice tonight against the Virden Oil Capitals.

“I pretty much had to go with the flow when the season started, especially as I was going from place to place and getting to know new people all of the time,” Roberts said.

“The first half of the year was definitely a blur, but I don’t think it has slowed down since. Everyone tells you that the last year of junior flies by and it doesn’t feel like we’re about to start the final and play our last few games of the season.”

Although he had spent the last three years in the WHL, Roberts was pretty familiar with the Pistons.

He was Steinbach’s 11th-overall pick in the 2017 MJHL draft, attended several training camps and played his first junior hockey game for the Pistons on Feb. 24, 2019, in a 1-0 road loss to the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

“It had been some time since we had seen him last but he was pretty much a man compared to when he was here previously,” Pistons head coach and general manager Paul Dyck said.

“We felt like Landon would be a great addition to our locker room as a veteran leader, especially with the physical presence he has. He’s been exactly what we had hoped for.”

Despite missing some time with an injury, Roberts was still tied for ninth in team scoring with 30 points – 14 goals and 16 assists – in 38 games.

He’s been lined up alongside veterans Travis Hensrud and Davis Fry in the playoffs and has a goal and five assists in 13 games.

“Landon generates a lot for us with how he plays the game,” Dyck said. “He brings a lot of intensity to the ice and he’s been a real good fit on our top lines.”

After recording 17 points in 120 WHL regular season games with the Tri-City Americans, Wheat Kings and Broncos, Roberts is enjoying the fact that he’s been able to contribute offensively this year.

He put together his best campaign since posting 52 points in 31 games for the Southwest Cougars under-15 AAA program in 2016-17.

“I loved the roles that I had in the WHL and I was able to pick up a lot of things from watching the other guys on the team and seeing what they did, especially last year in Brandon with how they would position themselves on the power play and things like that,” Roberts said.

“I don’t know a single guy that doesn’t like producing offence, so it’s definitely been a lot of fun this year.”

The physical nature of his game, which helped him earn the Wheat Kings’ fans choice award in 2022, is still there.

Roberts says he has been able to use a lot of what he learned during his rookie season in the WHL with the Americans in 2019-20 — when he was matched up against much older players — to his advantage as one of the veterans in the MJHL.

“All of those teams in the U.S. Division were extremely physical and you had to get used to going up against players who were basically men right away,” Roberts added.

“It’s become even more apparent to me now this season that I’m more mature and developed than some of those young players, and you can tell out on the ice that they are willing to throw pucks away just so they don’t get hit.”

While Roberts wasn’t part of last year’s Pistons team, he’s well aware of the motivation that the 11 returning players have to hoist the Turnbull Cup after they lost in Game 7 to the Dauphin Kings on home ice.

“It’s become a bit of a joke between the team with the amount of references those guys make to what happened last year,” Roberts said.

“I think there’s a bigger chip on all of their shoulders after not getting that ring and they definitely want it as bad, if not more, than the rest of us.”

OIL CAPS NEXT

After finishing second in the East Division with a 42-15-0-1 record, the Pistons edged out the Winkler Flyers in seven games and beat the Swan Valley Stampeders in six games to reach the final for the second straight season.

“I think we learned a lot against both teams as they play a pretty similar style,” Robert said. “We have a good idea of the tone that’s expected at this time of year and we need to continue doing what we’ve been doing in order to be successful in the final.

“The biggest thing we need to get better at is our start to periods. We’ve come out pretty slow for some of our games in the first two rounds and we need to make sure we are playing every shift the same way.”

The Pistons won their first two meetings with the Oil Capitals 7-2 and 7-1 in a home-and-home series on Dec. 2 and 4.

Virden returned the favour with back-to-back 3-2 triumphs in another home-and-home set on Jan. 13 and 15.

Dyck doesn’t think much can be taken from those games, however, as the Oil Capitals have become a much different side.

They rattled off a 21-5 record after Christmas to qualify for the playoffs before upsetting the OCN Blizzard and Centennial Cup host Portage Terriers.

“We got a little glimpse of how they were playing following the trade deadline and to see what they have accomplished since then has been truly impressive,” Dyck said.

The second game in the final is set for Sunday at 7 p.m. in Steinbach. Games 3 and 4 are set for Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Virden.

If needed, a fifth game is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 29 at the T.G. Smith Centre, with a sixth matchup slated for Tundra Oil & Gas Place at 7:30 p.m. on May 1.

The Pistons would host Game 7 on May 3 at 7:30 p.m.

The winner of the series will go on to represent the MJHL at the Centennial Cup in Portage la Prairie from May 11 to 21.

ICINGS: The top two scorers in the MJHL post-season will square off in the final. Ty Paisley leads the way for the Pistons with 20 points in 13 games, while Nolan Chastko paces the Oil Capitals with 16 points in 13 games … Dominik Wasik (8-5 with a 2.63 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and one shutout) has started every game for the Pistons in the playoffs, while Owen LaRocque (5-2 with a 1.95 GAA and a .937 save percentage) and Eric Reid (3-3 with a 2.52 GAA, a .910 save percentage and a shutout) have split netminding duties for the Oil Capitals … This marks the third playoff meeting between the Pistons and Oil Capitals. Steinbach won six-game affairs in the 2018 final and in last year’s semifinals.

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