Oil Capitals season ends with Game 6 loss to Pistons

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This article was published 26/04/2022 (1415 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — While there was a tinge of sadness among the Virden Oil Capitals players on Monday night at Tundra Oil and Gas Place, there was also a sense of pride.

After finishing the regular season in third place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s West Division, the Oil Capitals made it all the way to the sixth game of the semifinal round before having their campaign come to an end at the hands of the East Division champion Steinbach Pistons.

“I’ve never been more proud of a group of guys,” Oil Capitals head coach and general manager Tyson Ramsey said. “As a coach, you are always pushing for more and this group gave us everything they had both on and off the ice.”

“It’s been an incredible run,” captain Logan Rands added. “Everyone one of us played with a ton of heart and the run that we’ve been on since Christmas has been awesome to be a part of.”

According to Rands, everything started to click for the Oil Capitals following the January 10 trade deadline, when they brought in forwards Nathan Driver, Beau Larson and Brody Wilson, along with netminder Bailey Monteith.

“All four of them just gelled into our lineup immediately and from that point on, we just played some really good hockey,” Rands said. “As we got closer to the playoffs, we all started to believe that we could go on a run with how well we were playing.”

Following a clean sweep of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines in an all-Westman quarterfinal matchup, the Oil Capitals split their first four games with a Pistons side that finished 23 points ahead of them in the league standings.

After dropping an 8-2 decision in Steinbach Saturday, Virden put together a much better effort on home ice Monday, only to see its season end with a 4-2 defeat.

“It wasn’t a great night for us in Game 5, but as we told the guys afterwards, it doesn’t matter if you lose by a big margin or in a close game, it’s about how well you respond to adversity,” Ramsay said. “It’s no surprise to us that we got a good performance from our guys in this game.”

“These types of nights are what you play for all season,” Rands added. “Both teams left everything out there to try and win a championship.”

While their semifinal matchup proved to be closer than many had indicated, the Pistons believe that their close battles with the Oil Capitals – which saw them earn a pair of overtime wins over their West Division opponents – will serve them well as they now prepare to face the Dauphin Kings in the MJHL final.

“It’s good for us to have a bit of adversity before the final. said Pistons forward Dawson Milliken, who potted a pair of goals in Monday’s series decider. “There’s a lot that we’ve learned not just from these games, but from our first round series (against the Selkirk Steelers).

“Virden gave us a tough challenge all series long and we’re pretty fired up to get past them.”

Davis Fry had two assists for the Pistons in Monday’s contest, which also saw Zach Power and Jack Rogers find the back of the net and Simon Harkness turn aside 28 shots.

Parker Johnson and Branden Huminuk countered for the Oil Capitals, while Monteith made 25 saves.

While he was held off of the scoresheet in Game 6, MJHL MVP Braden Fischer led the way on offence for Virden in the playoffs with 14 points in 10 contests.

As the Oil Capitals now start to look towards the 2022-23 campaign, they bid farewell to several key players.

Defencemen Nathan McInnis, Jackson Orr and Rands graduate, as will forwards Colin Cook, Dylan Halliday, Johnson, Larson and Driver.

Rookie forward Evan Groening – who turned 17 earlier this month – is eligible to return for a sophomore campaign, but hopes to join the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings.

Ramsey has already begun the process of filling those holes on the roster, as he’s signed forwards Grayson Chell (Summerland Steam), Brett Sabel (Fond du Lac High School), London Hoilett (Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg) and Nolan Chastko (Brandon Wheat Kings) to letters of intent.

Goaltender Owen LaRocque (Southwest Cougars) has also committed to the program, along with defencemen Ty Plaisier (Cougars), Matthew Renville (Winnipeg Bruins) and Ethan Guthrie (Wheat Kings)

“We’re pretty excited about the group we have moving forward, especially now that our returning players will have a ton of playoff experience under their belts,” Ramsey said. “They have a better understanding of how hard it is to win a title, especially after playing against a great team like Steinbach.”

“If the guys continue to build on the culture we’ve established here over the last few years, they’ll be just fine,” Rands added. “We’ve built an identity of having a team that’s hard to play against us and there aren’t many teams in this league that have been able to outwork us.”

ICINGS: The Winnipeg Blues and Winnipeg Freeze, who are both owned by 50 Below Sports and Entertainment, will each have a new head coach and general manager next season. Taras McEwen, who guided the Blues to a 29-22-1-2 record before losing a first round matchup to the Winkler Flyers, will be moving into the role of director of hockey operations for the program. Meanwhile, the contract of Taurean White was not renewed by the Freeze, who ended up at the bottom of the league table with a 10-40-4-0 mark. White moved into the position in December, shortly after the first-year club parted ways with Harry Mahesh.

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