Virden’s resiliency key in strong start

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This article was published 06/01/2021 (1980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League couldn’t have shut down at a worse time for the Virden Oil Capitals.

The team had an eye-popping 8-0-1-0 record under the guidance of second-year head coach Tyson Ramsey at the time of the COVID-19-induced pause to the season on Nov. 12.

Virden fell behind early in multiple games this year, but battled back to win nearly all of them. The Oil Caps and Winnipeg Blues, who played six games, are the only two teams yet to experience a regulation loss this season.

“I really liked the resiliency of our guys to battle back at games and stay within our structure and stick to the plan. When they did that they were successful,” Ramsey said. “Just being resilient and making sure we were focused for a full 60 minutes, I think was a big key for our success early on.”

The coach expected his group to be strong this year, with 14 returning players on the roster.

Ramsey highlighted Virden’s speed and willingness to play a fast-paced game as other assets that’s helped differentiate his team from others.

Having Western Hockey League players like Daemon Hunt, Jake Poole and Garrett Sambrook join the Oil Caps’ roster midway through October didn’t hurt, either.

The WHL granted temporary transfers to roster players because of the league’s delayed start to the 2020-21 campaign.

WHL players were allowed to join whatever Junior A, Junior B or U18 team had their rights, to continue their development until the start of the WHL training camps.

It was a new and unfamiliar scenario for every team across the MJHL, but Ramsey thinks his team was flexible and accepting of the changes.

“We had more bodies around than we typically would and I think our young guys really handled that well,” Ramsey said. “They worked hard at practice to get better and watched some of these Western Hockey League guys, plus some these older guys, do what they do on a daily basis to make them good players in the league. I thought our group was real good.”

Ramsey said the toughest part of being a junior hockey coach in the middle of a pandemic is trying to keep his players focused and together as a group while they’re apart. 

“We thought the plan was working really well when we were playing and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t have continued that, but in this game and in sports in general, and in business and life, you can only control the things you can control. This is one of those things you just simply can’t,” he said.

His role as the team’s general manager has also changed since the season paused in mid-November.

Now, he’s trying to wade through financials to see how the organization will stay afloat if the season doesn’t resume.

The MJHL is a gate-driven league, so no games means the team isn’t bringing is any revenue.

“At the end of the day we’re all positive about returning but we’re not 100 per cent that we will,” Ramsey said.

“… It’s been different, quieter on the player side of things, but on the business side it’s just been trying to make sure we’re supporting the people who’ve supported us. There’s local partners and businesses that’ve been so good to us in our time in Virden, and we’re not able to highlight them during our games right now.”

The provincial government is revisiting Manitoba’s code red restrictions on Jan. 8, meaning the earliest MJHL players could hit the ice again would be Jan. 9.

That adjustment is extremely unlikely to happen so soon, but Ramsey is hopeful the league can hit the ice within a few weeks of changes to the current provincial restrictions.

For now, he’s keeping busy at home in Virden and enjoying the holiday season with his wife Tracy and daughters Emma and Avery.

Tracy, a vice-principal at Waverly Park School in Brandon, also had a hectic start to her “season” when school began in September.

There was plenty of extra work to be done to make sure kids were staying safe amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There’s frontline workers that are heroes right now, people in hospitals and health care, but the teachers, the people in the schools have done a good job too,” Ramsey said. “They’re busy every day, doing their best to keep kids and families safe and they’re doing a remarkable job of it.”

Even though Ramsey doesn’t head to the rink every day like Tracy does to school, he guarantees he’s always working for the team during these strange times.

“There’s always seems to be something that needs to be done on a junior hockey team,” Ramsey said. “So yeah, it’s a little bit of a downtime here but I’ve kept busy.”

» dshewchuk@brandonsun.com

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