In what was their last game of the exhibition schedule on Saturday night, the Virden Oil Capitals wound up playing their most complete game to date, defeating the Dauphin Kings 5-0 at Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
Dylan Thiessen had a goal and two assists, while Kolton Kanaski, Justin Lee, Ben Dalke and Tyler Kirkup netted the other markers in the victory. Meanwhile, Oil Caps netminder Riley McVeigh ended up stopping all 32 shots directed his way for the shutout.
“I thought we were very consistent for 60 minutes and did a lot of good things and managed the game well,” said head coach and GM Troy Leslie. “I thought that there were times where there was push back, but we made sure that we stayed focused and obviously it paid off for us.”
Leslie says the next 24-48 hours will be full of tough choices for Oil Caps management as the club looks to set its roster in preparation for the club’s regular season opener, which is slated for next Friday night.
“I think there’s stuff that we’ve got to do over the next couple of days in terms of evaluating where we’re at and kind of going from there,” he said. “Any organization would take having tough choices to make over not having tough choices. It’s just part of the process. It’s something we’re going to have to look at very closely.”
Leslie says he made sure to point out to his team after the game that wins like the one that happened tonight will be hard to duplicate against the Kings when the regular season begins.
“One of the last things I said to them when I left the room tonight was don’t expect a 5-0 game next time against these guys because they played hard in the third period. I think they obviously know they’re going to be here next Friday and they wanted to send a bit of a message.”
The Oil Caps and Kings kick off their respective MJHL regular seasons on Sept. 22 when they clash at Tundra Oil and Gas Place. Game time is 7:30 p.m.