The winning streak came to an end for the Oil Caps on Tuesday night as the Oil Caps dropped a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Steelers in Selkirk.
Ryan Sokoloski’s 13th tally of the season just 36 seconds into overtime was the game winner as the Steelers put an end to Virden’s eight game winning streak, and in the process, moved one point up on the Oil Caps for fourth place overall in the MJHL standings.
“It was a tough loss and disappointing to see our streak end, but we have a chance to redeem ourselves with two games before the break,” said Oil Caps captain Ben Dalke.
The Oil Caps opened the scoring at the 11:43 mark of the first period as Jack Einarson netted his 11th of the year helping Virden carry a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Hunter Cloutier would make it 2-0 on a power play goal at the 7:40 mark of the second before the home team would cut into the lead as Blake Burr responded for Selkirk just 23 seconds later, making it 2-1 for Virden after 40 minutes.
The Steelers kept coming early in the third period as Colby Dudek fired home his fifth of the year with the man advantage at the 1:03 mark to tie the contest at two apiece. The Oil Caps quickly regained the lead on a goal from Kolten Kanaski less than a minute later before Will Middleton responded for Selkirk at 5:37 to force overtime.
Zach Bennett made 21 saves in net for Selkirk for the win, while Dalton Dosch turned aside 27 shots in the loss for Virden as they dropped to 18-11-2-4 on the year.
“Happy to get a point on the road but we really feel like we could have been better in the middle part of the game and had we done that we certainly had a chance to come away with two points,” said Oil Caps assistant coach Tyson Ramsey. “We didn’t manage the puck well through the neutral zone and didn’t direct enough pucks on a goalie that was shaky in the early part of the game. We’ll take the point and get ready here for the last two before the break.”
Next up for the Oil Caps: Tomorrow night in Virden against the Winnipeg Blues. Game time: 7:30 p.m.