After a weekend split at home against Swan Valley, the road doesn’t get any easier against the Virden Oil Capitals. Virden is coming in 4-5-1 in their last 10 but played very well last weekend and earned themselves 3 out of 4 points against a tough Dauphin team.
This week saw the MJHL hand out individual awards. Just like Dallon Wilton last week, more recognition came our way.
Center Cam Trimble took home “Star of the week” honors, and Connor Brust locked up Defenceman of the month for January.
Cam Trimble, A center from Gladstone, Manitoba skated in both games for the Titans this past week. In those games he exploded for 3 goals and 3 assists.
“Friday night’s game was a roller coaster to play in. The boys showed a lot of fight not giving up and fighting for two points. Lots of my success came from my linemates, Jags (Lapointe) and Dall (Wilton) helped generate a lot of scoring opportunities. The powerplay was also buzzing, helping us build momentum into our comeback.” Trimble said
Connor Brust comes to us from a little further away than Gladstone. The 18 year old defenceman arrived this off season after playing for his high school team in Forest Lake, Minnesota.
“I would say the adjustment coming from Minnesota to Neepawa was big for me. It was the first time I was away from home for an extended period of time. Not knowing anyone when I came up here and coming from the U.S. it was going to make it an even bigger change for me. I would say, it also made it very exciting for me and is an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life.” said Brust
During the month of January, Connor produced 2 goals and 7 assists in 8 games played. Connor has consistently been one of the top defenders in the league and currently sits in 5th in scoring amongst MJHL defencemen.
“I am a very goal driven person. I believe having goals and dreams drives you to be better. Since we just had a 2 week break, my goal for the month of January was to get back to a consistent schedule that allowed me to play my best every night. With me playing my best every night, I was able to score some goals and create chances that my teammates buried. With that we were able to get 8 points as a team over the Month of January which is very important as the season comes close to an end.” says Brust on his solid month of January.
Virden offers a wide variety of challenges. They currently have the top two goal scorers in the MJHL, and three in the top ten. It will be a tough test to hold off the 5th placed Oil Capitals and keep them behind us in the standings.
When asked about what he expects from Virden, Trimble had this to say..
“Virdens is a very fast and skilled team so the boys will have to show up ready to play physical and try to slow them down any way we can. They also have a dangerous powerplay so making sure we stay disciplined will be key.”
Neepawa;
Goals: Lapointe (20)
Assists: Wilton (28)
Points: Wilton (39)
Virden;
Goals: Fischer/Driver (24)
Assists: Fischer (28)
Points: Fischer (52)
It won’t be the usual Friday and Saturday this week, but instead it will be a Thursday night road game in Virden followed up by a Friday night game here at the Yellowhead Centre.
Both games will be at 7:30 pm. Due to health and safety protocols, on Friday we will only be allowed to have 250 fans attend the game. To ensure you have a ticket, you can purchase on showpass by going to our website, and clicking the tickets tab.
The game will also be on HockeyTV if you are unable to make it.