Tristan Keck scored two goals in a losing cause, as the Winkler Flyers dropped a 6-4 decision to the visiting Virden Oil Capitals. The Flyers showed some rust on Sunday afternoon, playing for the first time in a week and just second time in the last 14 days.
Exactly one week after beating the Steelers in Selkirk, the Orange and Black returned home looking to extend their winning streak to seven games. This was Winkler’s first meeting of the season against Virden, who were playing their third game in as many days.
The Flyers struck first, 6:40 into the hockey game when Evan Last and Shawn Pachet assisted on Tristan Keck’s 26th goal of the season, giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead. However, just 33 seconds later the Oil Caps tied the game 1-1.
It did not take the Flyers long to get that one back as Cam Whyte gave Winkler a 2-1 lead just 18 seconds after Virden’s first goal. Zak Hicks assisted on Whyte’s 15th of the year. With 4:31 to play in the period, Devan Schram pulled Virden even 2-2.
Winkler would retake the lead before the end of the period as Tristan Keck potted a rebound in the front of the net for his second of the game and MJHL leading 27th of the season. Evan Last and Shawn Pachet drew the assists once again and the Flyers took their 3-2 lead into the second period.
The Flyers outshot the Oil Captials 13-7 in the first period, but the second would be a different story. Winkler started the middle period flat and let Virden back into the game. Virden captain Ben Williams tied the game at three, under a minute into the period and Schram scored his second of the game, midway through the second on the power-play to give the visitors a 4-3 lead. Virden outshot Winkler 9-3 in the period and took their one goal lead into the third.
Still trying to hit their stride, the Flyers managed to tie the game just over eight minutes into the third period. Driving hard towards the Virden goal, Kayden Jarvis tapped in a Brett Klassen centering pass pulling Winkler even 4-4, 8:01 into the third period. Bryce Enns also assisted on Jarvis’ fourth of the season.
After taking one step forward and two steps back the entire game, Winkler would take a too many men on the ice penalty with just over three minutes left in regulation. On the ensuing power-play, the Oil Capitals would score their second man advantage goal of the game with 1:15 to play taking a 5-4 lead. They would also add an empty net goal with 22 seconds left to secure the 6-4 victory.
Dasan Sydora (15-3-1) made 25 saves on the 30 shots he faced. Virden outshot Winkler 31-25 overall. The Flyers were 0-for-2 on the power-play and 3-for-5 on the penalty-kill. Cam Whyte extended his point streak to four while Keck moved his to three. It was only the Flyers third regulation loss on home ice this season.
Winkler (19-6-5) will travel to Selkirk (12-14-1) on Tuesday night for their first game in the month of December. The Flyers are 3-0 against Selkirk this season. You can listen to Tuesday’s game live on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com with Matt Friesen’s pregame show getting underway at 7:25pm.
NOTE: The first CJHL roster cut down deadline is Monday, December 1st at 8:00pm. All teams must finalize their 25 man roster, while also leaving a number of cards open for future moves ahead of the January 10th, 2015 final trade deadline. Winkler currently has 22 player on their roster.