The Oil Caps proved too much for the Selkirk Steelers on Saturday night as Virden picked up a commanding 6-2 win in front of a fueled-up crowd at Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
Both teams were evenly matched in the first period, with great plays being made all over the ice as both teams displayed great skill. Shots on goal were an even 10-10 with no scoring.
In an exciting second period, there were a total of five goals as Virden notched the first three on the scoreboard.
Scoring began with a power play goal by Oil Caps captain Ben Dalke (his ninth of the year at 5:48) assisted by Blake Sidoni and Hunter Cloutier. Kolten Kanaski would then score at the 7:33 mark (assisted by Sidoni and Tristen Cross) to make it 2-0 before Sidoni’s tally at 13:38 (assisted by Dalke and Jayden Wojcichowski) made it 3-0 for Virden.
The Steelers responded with two tallies of their own in the period as Ryan Piwnuik’s goal at 16:20 and Will Middleton’s snipe at 17:19 cut the Oil Caps lead to 3-2.
That’s as close as the Steelers would get as the Oil Caps wound up scoring three unanswered in the third. Tristan Thompson’s goal at 2:07 (assisted by Keagan Morrison), Kanaski’s second of the night at 14:15 (assisted by Dalke and Sidoni) and Tristen Cross’ tally at 15:54 (assisted by Hunter Coultier) gave the Oil Caps a firm handle on the game.
Power play:
Selkirk Steelers – 1-for-4
Virden Oil Caps – 2-for-7
Riley Wallace backstopped the Oil Caps to a much-deserved win in net, stopping 25 of 27 shots, while Zach Bennett of Selkirk turned aside 33 of 39 shots in the loss for the Steelers.
The three stars of the game were:
- Blake Sidoni of Virden
- Kolten Kanaski of Virden
- Ben Dalke of Virden
The Davidson Truck and Tractor hardest working player of the game:
Riley Wallace of Virden.
Troy Leslie, Oil Caps GM and head coach on the win:
“As a coaching staff, we were really pleased with the effort. We got four out of a possible eight points this week with four games in five nights and a tough road trip to start. All in all, this was a big win all around from top to bottom.”
Oil Caps next game is Friday Nov. 30 as the Dauphin Kings host the Virden Oil Caps. Puck drop at 7:30 p.m.