By Derek Holtom
The Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs get under way this week, and the Waywayseecappo Wolverines have a chance to create some history by winning their first-ever best-of-seven series.
The Wolverines have won a best-of-three survivor series to get into the final eight, though have never advanced to the final four in the MJHL. They’ve come close, including a seven-game heartbreaker back in the 2007-08 season, which they lost on home ice to the Dauphin Kings.
Due to early deadlines before the final games this past weekend, it was not yet finalized who the Wolverines will be facing in their first-round matchup – the Dauphin Kings or the Virden Oil Capitals. Heading into the weekend the Dauphin Kings had clinched second place with an overtime victory over the Northern Manitoba Blizzard on Tuesday.
Also, the Neepawa Titans lost to the Virden Oil Capitals, meaning they needed to win their final two games (versus Wayway and Swan Valley) and the Wayway needs to lose out clean with no overtime points (versus Neepawa, Virden and Northern Manitoba).
The odds are it will be the Wolverines and the Kings clashing in the first round, but that’s was not locked in at the time this was written. And so, here is how the Wolverines stack up against both the Kings and the Oil Capitals.
Waywayseecappo Wolverines
Record: 27-23-3-2 (three games remaining at this writing)
Goals for: 184
Goals against: 177
Power-play: 21.7 per cent (seventh overall)
Penalty-kill: 80.7 per cent (fifth overall)
The Wolverines struggled to win back-to-back games through the first half of the season due to injuries to key players, but after the Christmas break the Wolverines were one of the top teams in the league, as 15 of their 27 victories came in just January and February. This is a veteran group built to win now. They are led by all-star Sebastien Hicks, who entered the final weekend with 32 goals and 72 points. They have three goal scorers with 20 or more this year, including Ben Roulette (25 goals and 67 points) and captain Aidan Herring (21 goals, 40 points). Defenseman Kurt Rookes led all players with 25 assists on the power-play. His overall totals of nine goals and 45 assists show his offensive talent from the blueline. And in goal the Wolverines have a solid one-two punch with Mariko Bercier and Jase Wareham. Both have very similar goals against averages, save percentages and starts this year, giving their Head Coach, Landyn Cochrane, a tough choice heading into the post season.
Dauphin Kings
Record: 32-23-2-0 (one game remaining at this writing)
Record versus Dauphin: 2-3-0-1
Goals for: 195
Goals against: 167
Power-play: 22.3 per cent (sixth overall)
Penalty-kill: 78.9 per cent (ninth overall)
These two teams didn’t meet until Dec. 14, when the Kings rattled off the first of three straight wins versus the Wolverines. That may have been the match that lit the fire under the Wolverines who have a much better record than the Kings in 2026. Wayway has also has points in their final three games against the Kings, going 2-0-1-0 in that stretch. In goal the Kings will look to Bryson Yaschyshyn, who has a save percentage of .910 – solid but right in line with both of the Wolverines’ netminders bring. The Kings don’t have a player in the top 20 for league scoring. Instead they come at you with depth – they only have one 20-goal scorer (Matthew O'Sullivan), one 19-goal scorer (Ethan Stewart) and 11 players with 10 or more goals.
Virden Oil Capitals
Record: 36-14-3-2 (three games remaining at this writing)
Record versus Virden: 3-2-0-0
Goals for: 235
Goals against: 148
Power-play: 25 per cent (fourth overall)
Penalty-kill: 81.5 per cent (fifth overall)
The Wolverines and Oil Capitals met four times in the first nine games of the season, and only once against since, a 4-3 overtime victory for the Wolverines back on Jan. 8. Both Virden and Wayway have soared in the second half of the year, so if these two were to meet, that would be an intriguing matchup (they also played one another on Saturday). The Oil Capitals have a true game breaker in Bryce Bryant, who entered the final week in second place in MJHL scoring with 28 goals and 77 points. After that, they are fairly spread out in scoring – they have nine players with at least 10 goals. Their No. 1 goaltender Braxton Burdeny has a save percentage of .906, very close to Wayway’s tandem, so that’s a wash. Overall the Wolverines have more dangerous talent but the Oil Capitals have more overall depth in scoring. This would be an intriguing matchup.
The Wolverines have proven they can beat either the Kings or the Oil Capitals this year. They’ve previously stated they don’t care who they play, and that this is a team that wants to win it all this year.
The playoff schedule will be posted to the league website at www.mjhlhockey.ca this week, with games likely starting on the weekend. Whether it’s Dauphin or Virden, expect Waywayseecappo to come at their opponents with everything they’ve got.