The 2020-21 Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) season was extremely short-lived, with just about a month's worth of regular-season games being played.
The Dauphin Kings finished the season 3-3 while the Swan Valley Stampeders were 7-3 as both teams played in the Northwest Division. The Virden Oil Capitals; meanwhile, got off to a tremendous start as they won eight of their first nine games, with their lone blemish being an overtime defeat.
Virden's 17 points were the most in the league and it gave them a sizeable eight-point advantage on top of the Interior Division.
20-year-old Hunter Cloutier scored six times and had 17 points -- the most in the league -- while Jack Einarson, who played his AAA hockey with the Interlake Lightning scored four goals and had seven assists. Virden had six 20-year-olds, five of which played upfront.
Tyson Ramsey is the team's head coach and general and he says the group came together and battled day in and day out.
"We had a solid veteran core that led our group," said Ramsey. "It was certainly unfortunate that we couldn't keep playing to see how we would finish out."
Tyson will enter his third season as the organization's bench boss and general manager in the fall. His competitive days ended a decade ago after he had 41 points with the Souris Elks of the Tiger Hills Hockey League. Tyson also secured an 80 point season with the Winkler Flyers back in the 1996-97 campaign. In all, Ramsey played 215 games with Winkler over the course of four years and he notched 207 points.
And with preparations for next season well underway, Ramsey has joined some elite company. The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) and the National Hockey League Coaches' Association (NHLCA) announced their five finalists for the Darcy Haugan/Mark Cross Memorial award, presented to the CJHL's Coach of the Year for the 2020-21 season.
Ramsey is joined by Pier-Alexandre Poulin of the Condors du Cégep Beauce-Appalaches, Brad MacKenzie of the Grand Falls Rapids, Corey Beer of the Timmins Rock and Peter Goulet of the Trenton Golden Hawks. It's the first time that Ramsey has been named a finalist for the award.
"It's certainly an honour to find out I was a finalist, it's pretty humbling to be in the same conversation as people that are up for an award named after Mr. Haugan and Mr. Cross," said Ramsey. "It's very special."
The MJHL is set to hold its annual general meeting on Thursday and that will provide the public with information regarding the league's return-to-play plan as Kevin Saurette has already said that the league remains fully committed to returning to the ice, in the safest possible way ahead of the new season.
In Virden, the Oil Capitals roster will look different. Six of last year's players are ineligible to return as they have aged out.
But with a great group of scouts working alongside Tyson, big things are expected in 'Oil Country'.
"Our forward group will look a bit younger, but some of the younger players had a great chance to step up last season and get into a few games," ended Ramsey. "We're excited about our group coming back. We'll have some veteran presence and we've also brought in some of our list players."
