The Oil Capitals dropped to 2 wins and 3 losses in the preseason Thursday, after dropping a 5 – 3 decision to the Dauphin Kings at the Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
The Caps started off fast with a goal at the 1:40 mark as Jack Einarson potted his first of the pre-season assisted by Tristan Thompson and Tristen Cross. At 16:52 in the 1st, the Kings answered with their first goal from Grady Hobbs assisted by Bradyn Smelski and Riley Shamray.
At 8:14 in the second, Ben Dalke scored a highlight goal, with assists from Cross and Brett Paddock. The Kings notted it up at 2’s at 16:48 in the 2nd, when Wayde Johannesson scored assisted by George King and Reece Hopfner.
Late in the 3rd the Kings snapped the tie at 14:32 when Brendan Arnold scored assisted by Samson Mouland and Mason Fischer. The Kings followed it up at 15:03 with a goal from Carter Sawchuk assisted by Alex Schneider and Dustin Mozdzen. At 17:08 the Oil Capitals got one back, when 2016 MJHL 1st round draft pick, Bray Rookes got his first MJHL goal, assisted by Paddock and Ben Dalke. But this was as close as Virden got, as the Kings got one into the empty net at 19:51 by Johannesson assisted by Shamray, making the final score 5 – 3.
Veteran goaltender Dalton Dosch played the full game for the Oil Capitals, stopping 28 of 33 shots.
GM and Head Coach Troy Leslie commented on the performance of the Oil Capitals. “Tonight was a good night in terms of evaluating some prospects as well as roster players. I thought we did some good things tonight. Some aspects of our team game were exposed in the third period. I thought we turned over some pucks at critical times that cost us late in the game. I thought we could have directed some more pucks to the net at times.”
Virden finishes its 6-game pre-season off tonight as they will push to get even their record to 3 and 3 as they face off against the Swan Valley Stampeders here at Tundra Oil & Gas Place.