Tonight’s Game Notes:
Welcome fans to tonight’s MJHL action featuring the visiting OCN Blizzard (11-20-2) and your home town Virden Oil Capitals (17-13-4).Tonight’s game along with the rest of the month of December is brought to you by the Arlington Hotel in Maryfield, SK. (Click to ‘Like’ the Arlington Hotel on Facebook)
We’re officially into the home stretch towards the Christmas break. After a 4-0 win on Saturday over the Neepawa Natives, the Oil Caps will play tonight and a home-and-home this weekend with the Selkirk Steelers to round out their “first half” schedule.
Heading into tonight, the Oil Caps have won three of four, but face a team in the OCN Blizzard who they have not yet beaten on the season. OCN downed the Oil Caps in the Old Dutch MJHL Showcase before sweeping the weekend series in The Pas in early November.
The Blizzard come into tonight 1-8-1 in their last 10 contests with their lone win coming against the Portage Terriers – a team that has only lost three games all season. That win came on the back of a 31-save performance from Devon Fordyce who has a sparkling .917 save percentage on the season. Fordyce picked up wins over the Oil Caps in each of their three meetings this season. Up front, the Blizzard have received much of their offense from 20-year-old forward, Grant Valiquette. With 35 points (11 G, 24 A) in 33 games, he is the team’s leading scorer.
For Virden, Soren Frederiksen is on a five-game point streak where he’s notched seven points (3 G, 4 A) during that stretch of games. Ben Williams also remains red hot with nine points (6 G, 3 A) in his last six games to pace the VOC.
Sean Kuehn will get the start in goal tonight who is 8-2 in his last 10 starts. Cam Patemanpicked up the win on Saturday, earning his first career Junior ‘A’ shut out with a 17-save performance. He will be featured in the RME Dependable Player of the Game interview during the first intermission.
The Oil Caps will see the return of Corey Haverstick to tonight’s line-up, but will be withoutJake Dudar and Cole Oliver who went hard into the boards on Saturday night. This has opened up the door for Oil Caps’ prospect, Morgan Magwood, to make his MJHL debut tonight. The Killarney native is the Captain of the Southwest Cougars this season and has 10 points (2 G, 8 A) while leading the team in penalty minutes with 62.
Looking ahead, Saturday night will be the final home game in the 2014 schedule against the Selkirk Steelers and the first matchup between the two teams since the Soren Frederiksen trade. You can purchase your tickets in advance by going online at oilcapshockey.com or by calling the Oil Caps office at 204-748-4848.
The Oil Caps have been busy in the community as of late. On Friday, Haverstick and Tyler Ham visited OLCS for their Code-a-Thon event while Troy Leslie took players to Melita last night to work with their minor hockey. Tomorrow night, the players will be carrying groceries for the public at Valleyview COOP from 5 pm to 7 pm.
As always, don’t forget to check-in to tonight’s game on the Oil Caps app for your chance to win a $10 gift card courtesy of Chicken Chef Restaurant in Virden.
It’s game number 35 on the season and number 16 on your tickets. Enjoy the Tuesday night contest between the Blizzard and the Oil Caps.