Oil Capitals eager to open post-season

The Virden Oil Capitals have known they’d open the Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs at home for more than a month.

They had the top spot in the West Division locked up before March even began.

Virden had every right to get complacent and coast into the post-season.

It did anything but that.

The Oil Capitals are riding a five-game winning streak into Friday’s opener against the Neepawa Titans at Tundra Oil & Gas Place at 7:30 p.m.

“That’s one of the things I’m most proud of with our group, the approach we took, even though we knew we were going to finish in first place,” said head coach and general manager Tyson Ramsey.

“It is very apparent to our group what we need to do to be successful, and we talked about that a lot.

“We want to try to get better every game, do the right things day in and day out, on and off the ice.”

Virden finished the 58-game regular season at 39-14-3-2, good for 83 points, 15 clear of Dauphin for the top spot in the West.

Neepawa comfortably finished fourth at 28-28-1-1, 13 points ahead of Swan Valley but by far the weakest total of the top eight.

That’s reflected in the season series. Virden won the first two matchups 6-3 and 7-2, then dropped a 3-2 decision right before the Christmas break.

The Oil Capitals bounced back to sweep the rest of the series 5-2, 4-2 and, most recently, 5-1.

Naturally, Ramsey likes his group’s chances in the best-of-seven quarterfinal.

“You have to be confident in the stuff you’ve accomplished,” Ramsey said.

“Having that record against them is something we can look at and feel good about. At the same time, everything’s wiped clean, and everyone’s on the same footing here.”

The Oil Caps feature one of the top forwards in the league in 19-year-old Bryce Bryant.

The hometown hero finished second in the MJHL with 81 points, including 28 goals and 53 assists.

“Bryce is a really good player in a number of different ways,” Ramsey said. “He understands what he needs to do to be successful as a player, doesn’t just rely on his skill and speed.

“He’s best when he’s involved physically in the game, and I don’t mean running around smashing into people but using his body to protect pucks and create some time and space for him to use his skill. He’s got elite speed and a couple of different gears.”

Brandon’s Colten Worthington had a terrific 18-year-old season, adding 19 goals and 42 assists, while London Hoilett led the team with 32 goals to go with 26 assists.

The top-end guys created a huge scoring spike from last year, when Virden scored just 170 goals and missed the playoffs. It racked up 257 in 2025-26.

On the back end, Virden product Ty Plaisier and Nathan Schaefer anchor a deep group that helped allow just 156 goals, the third-best mark in the 13-team league.

Overage goaltender Braxton Burdeny led the way, earning 23 wins in 38 games with a .910 save percentage and 2.63 goals-against average. Brandon’s Micky Gross finished his rookie year with a fantastic 16-3-1 record and an almost identical save percentage of .909, with a 2.44 GAA.

“We’re not going to look past Friday night,” Ramsey said. “We haven’t made a decision on a starter yet, but we’ll take it game by game. Micky has really come along this season and has played really well against Neepawa. We feel like we’ve got two guys who, when called upon, can do the job.”

Game 2 is at Yellowhead Centre on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The rest of the series is as follows:

• Tuesday, March 24 in Virden at 7:30 p.m.

• Thursday, March 26 in Neepawa at 7:30 p.m.

If necessary:

• Saturday, March 28 in Virden at 7:30 p.m.

• Sunday, March 29 in Neepawa at 6:30 p.m.

• Tuesday, March 31 in Virden at 7:30 p.m.

In the other matchups, the West’s second-place Dauphin Kings host the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, while the East’s top-seeded Niverville Nighthawks welcome the Winkler Flyers and the second-place Steinbach Pistons entertain the Portage Terriers.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com