For only the second time this month, the Oil Caps found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard on Wednesday night, losing 5-4 to the Stampeders in Swan Valley.
The Stampeders opened the scoring just 30 seconds into the contest as Matthew Osadick netted his 15thof the year and would later add on to their lead at the 9:02 mark as Alexander Uryga picked up his fourth of the season, making it 2-0 for the home team after 20 minutes.
The Oil Caps responded in the middle frame just 1:38 in as Dylan Halliday fired home his fourth of the year on the power play (assisted by Tristen Cross and Logan Rands) to make it 2-1 before the Stamps replied with two goals of their own as Bradly Goethals’ 12thof the season at 9:45 and Brian Harris’ third of the campaign with the man advantage at 16:49 made it 4-1 for Swan Valley after 40 minutes.
The Oil Caps didn’t go away however as their resiliency showed in the third, scoring three consecutive tallies to tie the game at four apiece. Brett Paddock picked up his first of two consecutive goals at the 4:52 mark on the power play (assisted by Jack Einarson and Dylan Halliday) before netting his second tally (fifth of the year) at the 9:02 mark (assisted by Josh Belcher and Tristen Cross) to make it 4-3. Halliday’s second of the game (assisted by Jayden Wojciechowski) at 10:12 tied the score, however Josh Tripp’s 14thof the year for the Stamps at 13:43 wound up being the winning goal as Swan Valley improved to 18-3-1-2 on the season. Virden meanwhile, dropped to 10-10-1-4 on the year.
Michael Davis made 22 stops to pick up the win in net for Swan Valley, while Dalton Dosch turned aside 38 pucks between the pipes for Virden in the loss.
“It was a bit of a slow start and we showed a lot of character making a big push in the third, but you can’t take any periods off in this league if you want to win games,” said Oil Caps captain Ben Dalke.
Next up for the Oil Caps:Friday night in Virden against the Steinbach Pistons. Game time: 7:30 p.m.