The Virden Oil Capitals played at home on Thursday night, defeating the Natives in a 8-1 victory! They started strong in the first period, with Halliday (from Thompson and Mcinnis) scoring just 0:34 seconds into the game. The period remained a close fight, as both teams played well defensively.
The second period was slower paced but nonetheless, the Caps continued their lead with Hunter Andrew scoring an unassisted goal early on at 2:55. Shortly after that, Einarson (from Kanaski, Wojciechowski) scored short-handed, making it a 3-0 lead. The Oil Caps defensive game was strong throughout the second period as Neepawa wasn’t able to capitalize on any of their five power play chances until the later last of the period. They finally put one between the pipes at 19:23, while the Caps were short-handed. The period ended with 3-1 Cap’s lead.
The third period of the game was definitely not in the Native’s favour. Neepawa took a lot of penalties and the Caps were able to capitalize, scoring two power play goals. Half way through the third, there was a fight between Drayson Collyer (VOC) and Eli Lieffers (NN), both receiving 5 min Major-Fighting penalties and Game Misconducts. The Caps scored three more goals to secure a win of 8-1.
Tyson Ramsey, Head Coach of the Oil Capitals, had this to say after the game; “I thought it was a really good game by our guys. We started the game well and even though it was only 1-0 after the first, I thought we generated some good chances. Then in the second, we stopped moving our feet and took obviously too many penalties and that slowed the game down for us. Then in the third I thought we were able to take the game over by getting pucks down low in their zone and were able to lean on their defence and capitalize. Nice to see us getting contributions from up and down our lineup tonight. We will have a good practice day tomorrow and get ready for Saturday in Neepawa, which is always a tough place to play.”
The Three Stars of the game were awarded to #28 Sam Brunton, #10 Jack Einarson and #27 Hunter Andrew. The Gardwine Hardest Working Player was #26 Drayson Collyer. The Oil Capitals play Saturday night in Neepawa to vs the Natives again, and then they will kick off their Christmas break. The next home game will be January 9th, 2020.