Neepawa plugs Oil Caps
- Details
- Published on Thursday, October 20, 2016
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
A strong start by the Neepawa Natives helped to power the team to a 3-1 win over the Virden Oil Capitals on Wednesday, Oct. 19. McCreary’s Reigan Buchanan lead the charge, by opening up the scoring just 53 seconds into the game. Justin Metcalf followed that up with his seventh goal and 13th point of the season with 6:02 remaining in the first period, providing Neepawa with a 2-0 advantage after the first 20 minutes of play.
Early in the second period, Neepawa continued to push the pace, but couldn’t translate that effort into another goal. It wasn’t until there was just five minutes remaining in the middle frame, that forward Nolan Richards broke free of the pack and notched an unassisted marker, to make it 3-0.
For the final period, things started getting a little bit chippy, as both sides spent their fair share of time in the penalty box. One of those trips to the sin bin resulted in Virden’s lone goal of the night, with just 1:53 left in the game, putting an end to Neepawa goaltender Jeremy Link’s shoutout bid. Though Link didn’t get the shoutout, he still earned the first star of the game, with an impressive 37 save performance. Metcalf and Richards received the second and third star respectively.
Neepawa head coach Dustin Howden said that the victory was the perfect example of a ‘team effort’.
“Reigan Buchanan started things off positively for us. That really energized the entire bench. They were already prepared for the game, but that early spark was like an extra boost,” stated Howden. “Our work in the defensive zone was very good. Virden had chances, but we didn’t give up many quality opportunities to them. We didn’t give away rebounds in front of the net or have giveaways in our own zone and that was a total team approach. The forwards did their part to assist in the backend. Jeremy [Link] had a great night between the pipes for us. He played the previous night in Selkirk and came up big for us on back-to-back nights. Considering this week is another hectic one for us [four games in five nights], starting it off with a pair of wins is a real positive.”
The next game for Neepawa (4-7-0) in on Friday, Oct. 21 against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines (1-9-0). The start time at the Yellowhead Centre is scheduled for 7:30 pm. The next night, Neepawa will travel to Virden to once again challenge the Oil Capitals (6-5-2). Opening face-off for that game, at Tundra Oil and Gas Place, is also set for 7:30 pm.
