Vikings historical run in Westman is no more

The streak is finally over.

The Vincent Massey Vikings had gone 667 days since losing a Westman High School Hockey League regulation match — a 4-3 loss to the Hamiota/Rivers/Elton/Strathclair Huskies at Flynn Arena on February 4, 2024 — but their impressive stretch finally came to an end over the weekend when the league’s last undefeated team fell to the Swan Valley Tigers 5-4 at the Sportsplex Friday evening.

A slow start helped the Tigers build up a 3-0 lead in the first frame before Hunter Oakden potted one in during the man advantage to put Massey on the board heading into the second period, when seniors Daylan Duncalfe and Addax Egan both scored to tie it 3-3.

Owen Deleau gave the Vikings their first lead of the game in the third period, but it proved to be not enough as the Tigers fought back for two goals in under a five-minute span to break Massey’s historical run of nearly two years without a loss in regulation time.

The shock of not finding a way to come out on top after their loss quickly spiralled into a sense of urgency after they experienced the same feeling again just two days later in Neepawa, when the Tigers topped the Vikings 5-4 at Yellowhead Centre. Now, what was once an 8-0 grip on first place has suddenly turned into back-to-back losses and a third-place spot — with the Virden Golden Bears (9-5) and Swan Valley Tigers (8-0-1) jumping them.

Vikings rookie Vaughn McLeod believes his club’s shortcomings were self-inflicted.

“Our D-zone definitely wasn’t great,” said McLeod on Wednesday. “We just couldn’t get the puck out of our zone a lot, so they capitalized a lot off that, and our penalty minutes were pretty bad too, especially with a power play like Swan Valley, it’s pretty hard to keep a bunch of power plays out of the net.

“This whole season we’ve gotten a lot of penalties. Our D will just go out there and try and hit a guy, and then they’ll get a penalty for it because we’re trying to be too aggressive.”

If the Vikings can clean up their unforced errors, McLeod believes they’ll have a harder time letting their two-game schneid continue to fester. Thankfully for Massey, their ability to score has never wavered this year, even in their last two losses.

McLeod, 15, has been a big piece of the puzzle up front, as he’s currently scoring at a point-per-game pace with 5 goals and 9 points, playing on the first line alongside Egan (21 points) and Duncalfe (19 points) — both of whom lead the team in scoring.

The five-foot-11, 175-pound winger’s numbers stand out even more when you consider he’s played defence his entire life and this is actually his first season as a forward. Changing positions has required a lot of adjustments for McLeod, but he’s more than glad to work through it.

“It’s been really nice changing things up because my whole life I have been D,” he said. “I find it a lot more fun because on defence, you don’t get to do a lot on offence, especially when your team doesn’t put the puck back to the D, so it’s kind of nice having the puck a lot in the offensive zone and being able to just run around and hit a bunch of guys too.

“The hardest part is in the offensive zone, sometimes I don’t know when to go or when to hold back when there’s battles down low or stuff like that, and I feel like sometimes we’re just lost out there, so it’s kind of confusing when it gets scrambly. But, on the forecheck, I just know that I need to go and hit a guy and get the puck back. So that’s been a lot easier.”

McLeod played for the Brandon Wheat Kings U15 AAA team last year under head coach Dave Lewis and got a chance to play up front near the end of the post-season when some guys went down with injuries. He had so much fun he decided to make the full-time switch to attack heading into this season, but with his high school squad instead, as he still wanted to play volleyball and lacrosse, which would be difficult to balance on Brandon’s U17 team.

“I was originally going to go play U17 at the end of last season, but I wanted to play those other sports too, so I wanted to play high school so I could still be a multi-sport athlete and not have to completely focus on just one sport and have a complete commitment.”

McLeod cracked the Vikings junior varsity volleyball lineup this season and is also one of the province’s top box lacrosse athletes, as he represented Team Manitoba at the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, N.L., this summer and helped them to a fifth-place finish after beating Quebec 7-6. He said lacrosse has helped him in many ways with his play on the ice, including adapting to a physical style of game.

“It’s definitely helped a lot. Two years ago and even last year, I left myself in really vulnerable spots on the ice where I can get hit from behind or something like that. I think lacrosse helped me know when I’m in that spot or when to hit a guy or how to take a hit,” he said. “Just being more aware of how to protect myself on the ice, so I think lacrosse has played a big part in that.”

VICTORY IN VICTORIA INN

It hasn’t been all bad for the Vikings as of late.

Massey locked down the A-side consolation championship in the Victoria Inn High School Hockey Tournament after blanking the Westwood Warriors 5-0 at Enns Brothers Arena on Nov. 30. The annual tournament, which included 23 teams this year, had the Vikings finish first in their pool after sweeping round-robin play with 5-2 victories against the Carman/St. Claude Cougars and the Beaver Brae Broncos.

They switched to the consolation side following a disappointing 5-0 loss to the Morden Thunder the following game and then secured a win with a solid bounce-back effort against Westwood to grab back-to-back A Division banners.

“It was a good tournament,” said McLeod. “There’s a lot of good teams in that, so it was a fun tournament, and Morden, they were a very good team. That was probably the best team we’ve played yet. We really didn’t expect Morden to be that good, but their whole team was just full of good players. It was nice to end it off on a good note, though, winning the A side consolation after beating Westwood.”

Now, Massey will look to start another historical run in the WHSHL this weekend in a back-to-back set at home against the Major Pratt Trojans (6-3) and the Huskies (5-3). The Vikings haven’t played the Huskies yet this season, but they defeated the Trojans 4-1 in Russell in early November. McLeod expects both games to be a tough test.

“We’re going into these games expecting a good game and knowing that we have to come out ready and play all three periods,” McLeod said. “I think it’s pretty important because we want teams to know that we’re just not just another Brandon team. When it comes to Winnipeg teams, I think we want to be a team that can compete and have a spot in provincials and show that we’re a good team. It’s not just going to be an easy win.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com