The Waywayseecappo Wolverines dropped a seesaw battle that ended in a 7-6 overtime win for the Virden Oil Capitals on Saturday night.
After some very early pressure from the Oil Capitals in the first, the Wolverines would show off their speed and capitalize on a pair of chances.
Just 5:03 into the period, Conrad Phillips found the back of the net to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead with Matt Kasowski picking up an assist on the play.
Ten minutes later, Waywayseecappo would strike on the powerplay when Anthony Bilka made a nice tip from the Matt Swanson shot. Both Swanson and Ripley chipped in with assists on the 2-0 goal.
Like the Wolverines did in the first, they would do in the second. Score early. Logan Wotton got great body position in front of the net and would tuck home a rebound to increase the Wolverines lead to 3-0. Both Dylan Soosay & Thomas Hansell made a nice play on the rush to grab the helpers and help set up Wotton.
Although the Wolverines continued to pour on some pressure, Oil Capitals Goaltender, Dalton Dosch stood tall and kept his team in it. After making a pair of big stops, Tristian Thompson and Tanner Andrew each scored in the final ten minutes to bring Virden within one goal heading into the second intermission.
At the start of the third, Waywayseecappo wasted no time getting back to business. 1:14 in, Anthony Bilka picked off a pass in front of the Oil Capitals net and snapped one over the shoulder of Dosch to give the Wolverines a 4-2 lead.
Five minutes later, Nick Doyle dropped Kolten Kanaski in front of the Wolverines bench and the Wolverines would head the other way with numbers when Gerrik Ripley finished off the scoring play to increase the lead to 5-2.
Much like the end of the second, Virden wouldn’t go away in the third. 1:46 after Ripley gave the Wolverines a 5-2 lead, Virden would come alive. Colin Cook, Hunter Cloutier, and Jack Einarson would each score for the Oil Caps’ within six minutes to tie the game up at 5-5.
The scoring wouldn’t stop there. While on the powerplay, Matt Kasowski finished off a nice passing play from Jaymes Knee and gave the Wolverines their lead back at 6-5 with under five minutes to play.
Virden would pull Dosch late in the third and it would certainly pay off. Kolten Kanaski finished off a chance in front and tied the game up at 6-6 with 20 seconds left on the clock to send the game to an extra frame.
Just 23 seconds into the overtime period, Brett Paddock would beat Thomson Phinney and gave the Oil Caps’ a 7-6 preseason win.
For the Wolverines, they finish off the preseason with a 4-2-1-0 record. The club will now have five days off to prepare for their season opener which takes place on Friday night in Neepawa against the Natives at 7:30