Please arrive early to the game tonight and have your stuffed animals ready. Last year’s Teddy Bear Goal took 22 seconds and left people standing at the gate!
Tonight’s Game Notes:
Welcome fans to tonight’s TSL Teddy Bear Toss featuring the visitingDauphin Kings (11-16-4) and your home town Virden Oil Capitals (14-11-4). Tonight’s game host is TSL Industries.
We’ve got a lot in store for Oil Caps fans this weekend. Kicking things off tonight is of course, the 3rd Annual TSL Teddy Bear Toss. Before we get to that, the newest addition to the Oil Caps lineup will be announced during tonight’s player introductions. The Oil Caps mascot has been a work in progress since the summer and will officially come to life tonight thanks to the mascot partner, TSL Industries.
Fans are asked to throw their stuffed animals on the ice after the Oil Caps score their first goal tonight. Last season it was the Dauphin Kings who were in town for the 2nd Annual Teddy Bear Toss and it took Curtis Oliver all of 22 seconds to make 248 stuffed animals rain down on the ice that were donated to the Virden Christmas Cheer. Should the Oil Caps fail to score a goal in the first two periods, fans can throw their stuffed animals at the buzzer at the end of the second period.
It’s just the second matchup of the season between these two clubs – the first one coming two weeks ago in the Oil Caps last home game. Virden looked to have things in the bag up 5-1 after two periods, but the Kings made things interesting in the third with a pair of goals to make it a 5-3 final. Since that meeting, the Oil Caps have gone 3-1 with wins over Neepawa, Winkler, Steinbach and Winkler with their only blemish coming to Winnipeg in a 5-0 loss. The Kings have since gone 2-2 with their most recent loss coming last night, also to the hands of the Blues.
Virden capped off the month of November with a 7-3-2 record and had two members of their team recognized by the league for their strong month. Sean Kuehn was named the MJHL’s MGEU Goaltender of the Month while Dylan Thiessen was named the MJHL’s IBAM Rookie of the Month. Kuehn was also recently named the Oil Caps’ MNP Player of the month as well.
The Oil Caps are riding a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games and are currently one of the hottest teams in the MJHL. The team will have a chance to try and run this hot streak into home ice during the month of December when they play six of their next nine games at Tundra Oil & Gas Place. Devan Schram along with a trio of 20-year-olds in Soren Frederiksen, Ben Williams, and Lucas Oliver are all leading the way offensively as they kick off their December schedule tonight.
Virden will have a short turnaround tonight as tomorrow’s game will be played at a rare 2:30 pm start time against the Steinbach Pistons. It’s the MGEU Family Skate Game so fans are encouraged to bring their skates to the game where they can join the team and Digger on the ice following the game. Everyone 18-years-old and younger are required to wear a helmet. MGEU will be providing food and drink to all participants who take part in the Family Skate event.
Thank you to everyone who brought a stuffed animal tonight. Enjoy the game!