Junior Vics building foundation for successful season

St. Vital

Southdale

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This article was published 26/01/2023 (1290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The St. Vital Junior Victorias aren’t taking anything for granted.

Despite starting the season without a home rink, owing to a compressor issue that left the St. Vital Centennial Arena closed into mid-November, the Junior Vics were firmly in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League’s top four teams. At press time, the Vics were in second place of the 10-team league with 20-9-2 record, good for 42 points ahead of a Jan. 26 game versus the last place Raiders Junior Hockey Club. The River East Royal Knights and Fort Garry/Fort Rouge Twins, however, were in third place with 39, and fourth place, 38 points, respectively, and fewer games played.

“It worked out well. We took it as a positive, making it something to get excited about,” Jeff Mitchell, head coach of the Victorias, said of the team’s time playing out of Southdale Community Centre and the Niverville Arena. “The rink in Niverville is beautiful. Everyone there was very accommodating.”

“It was a bit of a speed bump not having our home rink,” Brayden Clark, a third-year right winger and team captain, added. “But playing in Niverville, in a brand new rink, with our great fans who travelled to see us, it was great. We made it work and made the most of it.”

While the defending champs St. James Junior Canucks remain in first place with 53 points in 29 games, the Victorias are focused on building on the success from the first half of the season.

“We had a good start the first half of the season to put ourselves in a good spot to prep for playoffs,” Mitchell, who is in his fifth year coaching the Vics, said. “No stopping now, we gotta keep building and make sure we’re ready to win that first playoff round.”

The Victorias have no trouble scoring, with an average of 4.42 goals per game good for second best in the league. Special teams have also been successful this season. The Vics also boast the third best power-play, which was scoring at a 29.1 per cent success rate at press time, while its penalty kill is rated third at 81.7 per cent.

“We’re a fast, skilled team that I expect the highest work ethic from,” Mitchell said. “We like to smother teams, be all over teams. Time and space is something you don’t want to give up. We like to limit that and make sure we’re pushing the pace at all times. We’re a big momentum team and we like to push that pace. Once we get to that pace we can be a lethal team up front and can shut them down in the defensive zone. We’re going to keep building with that.”

One area the Vics look to reduce the number of goals against per game, which was ranked sixth at press time with a 3.97 average.

“We need to buckle down and tighten up that d-zone,” Clark said. “Come playoffs, that’s pretty important.”

Last season, the Junior Victorias bowed out of the playoffs in the first round, losing in six games to the Raiders. For Clark, who just turned 22, and the other 21-year-old veterans on the team, one last run at a championship is the primary objective.

“We’ve got a lot of senior players on the team this year, veteran guys, and only two rookies,” noted Clark, who spent some time with the Selkirk Steelers and Steinbach Pistons in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League before joining the Victorias for the 2020-21 season, which was cut short after only five games owing to a surge in the COVID-19 pandemic. “We hope to go on a run and put it all together for a long playoff run. The end goal is to win that championship.”

For up to date results, schedule and more, visit mmjhl.ca