Oil Caps one win away from advancing to Turnbull Cup final
The Virden Oil Capitals are now one win away from advancing to the Turnbull Cup final after defeating the Winkler Flyers 5-1 on Tuesday night at Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
After a back and forth first period which saw the two clubs trade scoring chances, it was the goaltenders who stood strong between the pipes for their respective teams, keeping the game scoreless after 20 minutes of play.
The momentum would shift to the home team in the middle frame as Rylee Zimmer’s fourth tally of the playoffs at 6:31 followed by Josh Belcher’s second of the postseason less than a minute later (7:09) made it 2-0 for Virden.
The Oil Caps didn’t stop there. A Marco Creta goal at 15:31 (his third of the playoffs) made it 3-0 before Kolten Kanaski’s first goal of the postseason on the power play with less than two minutes left on the clock (18:11) gave the home team a 4-0 advantage after 40 minutes.
Credit the Flyers for not giving up in the third as Weiland Parrish’s power play tally just 2:19 into the final frame gave Winkler life, however that’s as close as they’d get on this night. Kirklan Lycar would later score his third of the playoffs at 9:25 to round out the scoring.
The Oil Caps found themselves in some penalty trouble throughout the contest as the Flyers wound up with eight opportunities with the man advantage, scoring once.
“I thought we had to face a lot of adversity tonight, but good teams battle through it,” Creta said.
Riley McVeigh – who was a runner-up for the MJHL player of the week – continued his strong play between the pipes, turning aside 35 shots to pick up his seventh win of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Troy Martyniuk and Aaron Brunn combined to make 36 saves in net for Winkler in the loss.
“I was seeing it (puck) good,” McVeigh said. “I felt like I was tracking everything, the guys made it easy.”
McVeigh says right now his team has the momentum but feels like his club will need to turn it up a notch if the Oil Caps are to come away with a series sweep.
“It’ll be a hard game but I think we can come out on top if we play our game,” he said regarding Game 4, which will take place Thursday night in Winkler. Game time for that contest: 7:30 p.m.
Extra Notes:
-The Twin Valley Co-op three stars: No. 1 Kolten Kanaski (one goal); No. 2 Riley McVeigh; No. 3 Jack Einarson (one assist).
-The Redfern Farm Services hardest working player: Rylee Zimmer