Kirklan Lycar scored the SO winner in the 5th round, as the Virden Oil Capitals ended the 10 game win streak of the Steinbach Pistons with a 3-2 victory in a shootout.
The Pistons outshot the Oil Caps 36-32 in the game. Virden’s Riley McVeigh stopped 34 shots in the win, while the Pistons’ Matthew Thiessen made 30 saves in the loss. There was no scoring in the first period, as it was a tightly checked period between both sides. The Oil Caps outshot the Pistons 9-5 in the first, but nothing came out of it.
The Pistons got on the board first on the power play, as Drew Worrad worked down the right wing side and looked to throw out a centering pass to Bradley Schoonbaert. The puck ended up hitting McVeigh, and went through his five-hole into the net. Worrad netted his 15th goal from Darby Gula at the 6:19 mark of the second period.
Virden tied it shortly thereafter, as Landyn Cochrane netted his 4th of the season from Dylan Thiessen and Rylee Zimmer with exactly 9 minutes to go in the second.
Cochrane gave Virden the lead with under 6 minutes to go in the third period, as he gloved down an errant shot in front of the net, and slid the puck on his forehand past Thiessen for the lead. It was his 2nd goal of the game from Morgan Magwood and Zimmer. Virden ran into penalty problems late in the third, as they took consecutive penalties with under two minutes to go. Coach Paul Dyck pulled Thiessen and called his timeout after to set up a potential tying goal on a 6-on-3 situation. It worked, as a point shot rolled through and Will Koop slammed the rebound home from the side of the net to tie it up. Koop notched his 17th of the season from Riese Gaber and Worrad with 12 seconds to go.
Both sides had a power play apiece in overtime, but no goals resulted. Daniel McKitrick and Worrad scored for the Pistons in the shootout, however Ben Dalke, Dylan Thiessen, and Lycar responded for the Oil Caps to win it.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pistons went 2 for 5 on the power play, and killed off all 5 man advantages they faced.
UP NEXT: Steinbach will host the Neepawa Natives on Sunday, with the puck drop set for 7:00 pm. Then they will be on the road for the next 2 ½ weeks before returning to the TG Smith Centre on January 24.