The Winkler Flyers came up on the short end of a very hard fought affair, losing 4-2 to the visiting Virden Oil Capitals in Game Five of their MJHL Quarterfinal series. Cam Whyte and Scott Gall scored for the Flyers who will now face elimination in Game Six, Saturday night in Virden.
With the series back in Winkler for Game Five, both teams were less than 48 hours removed from going to triple overtime in Game Four. Virden won that game 4-3, tying the best of seven series 2-2.
After a scoreless first period, Soren Frederiksen put the Oil Capitals in front 1-0 just 21 seconds into the second period. The Flyers would get that back with not one, but two goals near the midway point of the period. Just past the halfway point of the second, Kayden Jarvis and Ryne Keller assisted on Scott Gall’s first of the playoff, pulling the Flyers even 1-1. Just 28 seconds later, Tristan Keck hit Cam Whyte with a pass in front of the Oil Caps net and the Virden native tucked a back handed shot over the shoulder of Sean Kuehn giving Winkler a 2-1 lead. Jon Carlson also assisted on Whyte’s third goal of the post season.
Virden scored the equalizer on the power-play with 7:06 left before the intermission and the game remained 2-2 well into the third. With just minutes to play in regulation, it appeared the series was bound for overtime for the fourth straight game. However, with 1:28 to play in the third, the Oil Caps scored to take a 3-2 lead.
Just seconds after that, the Flyers took a penalty putting a damper on their comeback attempt. With a minute to play, another Flyer was headed to the penalty box and Virden scored on the ensuing 5-on-3 power-play to skate away with a 4-2 win and a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series.
Devon Fordyce made his fourth straight start and made 40 saves as Winkler outshot the Oil Caps 46-44 in the game. Winkler went 0-for-4 on the power-play and 4-for-6 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers will travel to Virden for Game Six of the series on Saturday, March 21st. Winkler now faces elimination trailing in the series three games to two. Puck drop at Tundra Oil & Gas Place in Virden is 7:30pm with the pregame show live on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com at7:25pm.
There will be a Flyers Fan Bus heading to Virden for Game Six. For a cost of $40 you will get your seat on the bus, a ticket to the game as well as food for the trip. To sign up for the Flyers Fan bus you can call Matt Friesen (204) 362-4965 or via email [email protected].
Game Seven if necessary will be back in Winkler on Sunday, March 22nd at 7:30pm.