In a tighter game than the score was, the Oil Capitals lost their second in a row in Selkirk on Tuesday night.
In the 1st, Selkirk got the only goal when Connor Barley got his 1st of the 4 on the night, (8:52 mark) assisted by Josiah Vanderhooft and Noah Basarab.
Barley, the theme of the night, scored his second of the game (5:14 of the 2nd) assisted by Nolan Ferguso. Matthew Smith made it 3-0 with a power play goal (10:23 mark) assisted by Ferguson and Carson Tiede. The Caps answered back with Hunter Cloutier getting his 7th of the season (11:12 mark) assisted by Dalke and Cross. Just over a minute later, on the power play, McCullollough Park with his 1st of the season as an Oil Capital, made it 3-2 (12:23) assisted by Halliday and Johnston. But a costly goal near the end of the 2nd, Selkirk regained the 2-goal lead with Barley scoring his 3rd of the night (16:55 mark) assisted by Basarab and Colby Jaquet making it 4-2 heading into the 2nd intermission.
The Steelers added to their leady in the 3rd as Nate Halvorsen scored on the PP (6:18) assisted by Eric Krywy and Jaquet. Barley continued his big night, with his 4th goal (11:18 mark) assisted by Carter Barley and Jaquet. Virden would make it 6-3 when Parker Brakebill would get his 2nd as an Oil Capital (13:55 mark) assisted by Belcher and Park making the final score 6-3 Steelers.
Dalton Dosch stopped 27 of 31 shots directed his way over 40 minutes taking the loss. Riley Wallace came in relief in the 3rdstopping 7 of 9 shots against him. Levi Mitchel got the win for the Steelers stopping 30 of 33 shots on goal.
Oil Capitals Coach and GM Troy Leslie, “It was a tough night all around. We did some good things in the 1st and continued to keep the game in our sights but we lost our composure and focus for a duration of time, during different points of the game allowing Selkirk to take advantage of our mistakes. We will need to play a full 60 minutes tomorrow against Neepawa. Our focus is to get this ship in the right direction tomorrow.”