Oil Caps power past Steelers in five games

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This article was published 19/03/2018 (2728 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — The Virden Oil Capitals last tasted victory in a Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoff series three years ago when they dumped the Winkler Flyers in six games in the quarter-final round.

That changed Saturday evening at Tundra Oil & Gas Place.

Kyle Salaway’s power-play snipe from the high slot with 8:10 left in the third period was the first of three Virden goals in a span of 3:26 that broke a 1-1 deadlock, and Salaway salted it away with an empty-net marker as the Oil Capitals beat the visiting Selkirk Steelers 5-1 in Game 5 of their best-of-seven quarter-final to win the series 4-1.

“Coming off this series I think we are all on a high,” said Virden netminder Riley McVeigh. “It only took us five games and we played well every single game so I think we’ve just got to roll with our momentum that we have now and don’t look too far in the future and take it a shot at time and look forward to the next series.”

Virden’s semifinal opponent has yet to be determined but it will have home-ice advantage, something McVeigh believes is huge.

“That was one of the biggest things at the end of the year,” he said. “We were talking about it trying to get second place so we can have that home-ice advantage. I think that’s going to be huge for us and I’m really looking forward to that and getting to play at home in the first game especially. It will be awesome.”

Although the Oil Capitals eliminated Selkirk in five games, they didn’t have an easy time dispatching of the No. 7 seed.

Hayden Dola was the primary reason for that.

The overage Selkirk netminder faced 50-plus shots in each of the first three games of the series, another 44 in Game 4 and 34 through two periods of Saturday’s contest.

That included 23 second-period saves as Dola stood on his head to keep the Steelers in the game.

The only shot that beat him was a low point shot by Devon Becker that Kirklan Lycar tipped in, tying the game after Cole Thompson’s first period marker for Selkirk.

McVeigh took note of his goaltending counterpart’s strong play all series

“I think you can’t think about it too much, but I definitely think that with him making those saves for his team I feel like I’ve got to make those saves for my team, and it gives me a little motivation,” McVeigh said. “It’s a little back and forth and it was a good battle goalie-wise.”

“I just tried to make the big saves when I could to give my team a chance to win every game,” he continued.

McVeigh finished the series with a .921 save percentage despite facing 20 less shots per game than Dola, who posted a .922 save percentage.

As strong as Dola was between the pipes for the Steelers, his strong play took a dip at the most critical time and it was Virden’s strong power play that took advantage.

Salaway took a pass from blue-liner Tristen Cross and banked the puck off iron and in to give the Oil Capitals the lead with Carson Tide in the sin bin for holding.

“We had so many chances, so many shots on the power play and I just saw an opening and I took it and it felt so nice to get that one in,” Salaway said.

Two-and-a-half minutes later Ben Dalke outskated Nolan Ferguson for the puck and blasted it off the post and in to make it 3-1 on his fifth goal of the series. Jeran Knorr put the game all but out of reach with another marker 54 seconds after Dalke’s goal.

“They came in here with a plan and they kept ‘er close,” Virden head coach and general manager Troy Leslie said. “I thought our second period maybe we deserved — with the chances that we had — a little bit of a better fate but we stayed focused into the third and got ’er done.”

Leslie was also quick to praise McVeigh, who stopped 30 shots in the clincher, while noting how valuable the experience of this series is for his younger players.

“He’s had a real solid series and he’s been particularly good in these last two or three games, so that’s very promising going forward,” Leslie said.

“I think more than anything it was nice to get our younger players — guys who haven’t played in the playoffs in this league before — that experience,” he continued. “We were pushed this series so that’s going to be valuable for us going into the next one and getting it done in five games means we may get a little bit of extra rest.”

ICINGS: Virden converted five of its 17 power-play opportunities (29.4 per cent), while Selkirk only netted two goals on 19 chances with the man advantage (10.5 per cent) … Fourteen Oil Caps registered at least two points in the series, led by six from Dalke (5g, 1a) … Three of Salaway’s four post-season goals have been scored on the power play.

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