A NOMADIC SEASON

The St. Vital Jr. Victorias led a rather nomadic life during the first part of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League season. Because the ice plant at their home rink, the St. Vital Arena, broke down on the eve of the current campaign, the Vics were forced to practice and play their home games elsewhere. They practiced in St. Adolphe and played home games in both Niverville and Southdale. Despite those obstacles, the Vics have maintained second place most of the season, well behind the powerful defending champion St. James Canucks. “We adjusted well, and we had a pretty good record at those games in Niverville and Southdale, so it worked out well for us,” said Vics captain Brayden Clark. “It was a bit of a hurdle, but we managed it well.” Their fans made the trek from St. Vital to Niverville and some of their players had their own supporters from the area. “We have a lot of guys who are from the Eastman area and we had two guys, at the time, who are from Niverville,” said forward Tyler Rubigny. “So, I would say we had maybe some different fans, but probably had just as many out there because we had a lot of guys from out of the city.” Both rookie Hayden Fast and Parker Janz (later traded away) hail from Niverville. “I think the coaches just made it clear that we kind of had to tough it out and everybody came together,” Rubigny said, “and we still made it through some good practices.” But it was far from the ideal situation for any team. “It was kind of high pressure, but I’ve got to hand it to our head coach, Jeff Mitchell, and Paul Kastes, one of our assistants,” said Vics president Dwayne Joseph. “We all found ice at different places and we made it work, probably within about 24 hours (after the ice plant malfunctioned). It was amazing. “Our team’s success I really credit to our coaching staff. Jeff and his staff have done – not a good job – I’d say a fantastic job.” St. Vital had been in second most of the campaign, but the River East Royal Knights had been right on their tail most of the way. “Yeah, which is a little surprising because the Royal Knights haven’t been great the last couple of years,” said Rubigny, who is also an assistant captain. “But they put together a pretty good young roster this year. I probably expect to see them in the second round (of the playoffs). It will probably be really close, but I think we’ve got the edge over anyone in the league.” Rubigny and teammate Ryland Nechwediuk have been in the top five of the league scoring most of the season. “Rubes (Rubigny) was our rookie of the year last year for the whole league, so he provides a key role to our team,” Clark said. “The same with Nechwediuk. They both played together in high school (Dakota), so they’ve got that chemistry together and they’re huge parts of our team this year.” Fast, by the way, was named MMJHL rookie of the month for two straight months. “He’s been awesome for us,” said Clark. “He’s definitely stepped up as a rookie for us and is doing really well. He’s a good little player.” Both Fast and Clark have been hovering around the fourth spot in team scoring, not that far behind Rubigny and Nechwediuk. “We also picked up a guy named Jack Kaiser at the deadline from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (Terriers) and in 10 games, I think he’s gotten about 16 points (eight goals, eight assists),” Joseph said. So, it is shaping up to be a pretty interesting playoff race. “St. James is a really good team and I feel like we are, as well,” Rubigny said. “We’ve gone through a lot of injuries this year. We’ve barely had a full roster but when we have had, I think our only couple of losses are to St. James. But I think we can beat them as well, especially in the playoffs. I think we can beat anyone in a seven-game series.” The MMJHL has come closer to parity than ever, Joseph said. “I’ve been in this league for 22 years as president of the Vics and my first seven-eight years, it was pretty well the same thing – it was us and Charleswood and it was pretty tight that way,” he said. “But the parity started picking up in this league and today, it’s tight.” The Vics haven’t won the MMJHL championship since 2004 – their only one. “They’ve only got out of the first round once in the last 10 years (2020 when the pandemic abruptly ended the playoffs), so we’re trying to break that up and bring one back to St. Vital,” Clark said. “This is my last year. I’m trying to lead these boys there and hopefully, get the job done.”