Content Provided By: Steinbach Online
Steinbach Pistons Head Coach & General Manager, Paul Dyck, reached 500 coaching wins in the MJHL on Saturday night when the Pistons earned a 4-2 victory over the Virden Oil Capitals.
Paul Dyck began coaching the Pistons as Head Coach during the 2012-13 season and has posted a record of 501-168-45 since that time. Dyck becomes just the 6th coach in MJHL history to reach the 500 win mark.
On the ice, Brett Kaiser scored a pair of goals while adding an assist, helping in Steinbach’s 4-2 win.
The Pistons dominated possession and owned the offensive zone for nearly the entire first period. Time and time again, they would force turnovers by the Oil Caps defenders and forwards, resulting in chances on net.
Twice the Pistons hit the post on what looked to be glorious scoring chances and despite heavily outshooting as well as out playing their opponent, the game remained scoreless into the back half of the opening frame.
In the later stages of the first, Grady Hoffman, coming off his hat trick the previous game, opened the scoring with his 7th of the season, wiring home a beautiful shot to make it 1-0. Brett Kaiser and Connor Paronuzzi were given the assists.
Shots after the first were 11-2 Steinbach, but that does not include the two posts the Pistons hit or or the dozen or so shots that were blocked after Virden turned pucks over in their own zone.
In the second, the Oil Caps came out stronger and pushed the pace trying to find an equalizing goal. Instead, they would take a double minor for high sticking, which gave the Pistons a four-minute power play which they did not let go to waste.
After owning the puck and the offensive zone for a full two minutes, the power play unit was mid-change which allowed Jackson Kostiuk time and space to wind up, walk in and pick his spot for his 10th goal of the season. Hoffman nabbed his second point of the game while captain Noah Szabo also picked up an assist.
Things were looking like it was all going the way of the Pistons but less than a minute later, the Oil Caps cut the lead in half as a point shot seemingly deflected off bodies in front and somehow floated in, making it a 2-1 game.
Both teams skates through the rest of the period and it looked like the 2-1 score would hold going into intermission. That was until Virden was called for an icing and it gave the Pistons an offensive zone face off.
They won the draw in the Virden zone, getting the puck back to Spencer Penner who showcased some elite patience and poise not rushing or just putting a puck toward the net in a panic. The 20-year-old took his time and set up Szabo for a great look on the net. While Szabo’s shot sailed wide, Paronuzzi had snuck behind the goal and took the puck off the boards, hitting a wide open Kaiser in front who made no mistake, potting his 10th of the year with just 3 seconds left on the clock.
Refusing to go away, the Oil Caps dug into the lead again, scoring 34 seconds into the third period to make it a 3-2 game.
As the period went along, Steinbach sort of let the Oil Caps hang around for a bit but they worked the clock, struck to strong defensive structure, won physical battles for loose pucks and didn’t give up much off the rush.
Looking for a late goal, Virden pulled the goalie but after Steinbach cleared the zone, the Oil Caps tried to drive the puck in but a heads up play by Zhenya Miles to keep the puck moving from behind the net up to the boards to a waiting Paronuzzi, who hacked one out of the zone to a streaking Kaiser who broke in and sealed the deal with his second of the game into a yawning cage, putting the Pistons up 4-2.
For Paronuzzi, it was his second straight game collecting 3 assists. The MJHL’s leading scorer is the first player to hit 50 points. On top of that, he extended his point streak to 9 games where he’s notched 23 points. 7 of those 9 games have produced multi-point efforts for the 19-year-old from Ontario.
Christian Green finished with 12 saves in the victory, improving his record to 19-5.
With the win, Steinbach’s head coach and GM Paul Dyck hit the magical 500 win mark for his coaching career.
The Pistons are right back at it on Sunday as the group travels to Neepawa to take on the Titans 6:30 on Sunday at the Yellowhead Centre.