The Swan Valley Stampeders will meet the Virden Oil Capitals for the final time during the regular season tonight at the Centennial Arena.
The Stampeders are coming off a 3-0 loss on the road in Virden last night, where the hometown team used two power play goals in the second period and an empty-net goal late in the third to take a 4-3 season series lead.
This is not the first time the Stampeders have been held off the score sheet this season. Including last night’s shutout loss, that is now five so far this season. A bit of a positive is that after each of those shutouts the Stampeders are 2-2 the following game.
Rebounding is something the Stampeders are getting good at and will need to find their offence tonight to stay in the hunt for third place in the West Division, and a little help from other teams moving towards season end.
Swan Valley enters tonight’s game three points back of Virden and three points ahead of Neepawa who both have two games in hand over Swan. The must-needed wins will need to start tonight if they plan on seeing any playoff hockey this season in the Swan River Valley.
Head Coach and General Manager Barry Wolff has made some changes to his lines ahead of tonight’s contest. Darius Makse draws back into the lineup and will skate alongside Justin Keck and Emile Pichette. The line of Carter Cockburn, Quinn Mulder and Callum Fortin will be reunited. Cody Barnes will center a line with Jacob Paler-Chow and Brad Fortin while Trey Sauder joins Nicolas Roussel and Deepkaran Hans.
Scratched tonight are Ethan Matchim, Lare Pahtayken and Adam Ward. Dylan Black is expected to get the start in net.
Players to watch
SVS – (Carter Cockburn (19G, 26A), Quinn Mulder (12G, 25A), Adam Rajsigl (8G, 27A) and Brad Fortin (13G, 20A).
VIR – Braden Fischer (29G, 34A), Nathan Driver (27G, 21A), Carson Buydens (20G, 23A) and Dylan Halliday (23G, 18A).
Tonight’s game is our billet appreciation night with an opening ceremony starting at 6:55 pm. Please make note and be in your seats to help us thank our billet families for everything they do for our organization.
The puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m..