The Nanaimo Clippers will try to use a tough loss as a turning point in a positive direction.
The city’s junior A hockey club suffered its worst setback of the season Friday, an 8-0 loss on home ice to the Powell River Kings.
“We’ve been playing good for a little bit and we had good energy,” said Kent Lewis, Kings coach.
The contest was 0-0 after the opening 20 minutes, but the Kings scored four times in the first 10 minutes of the second period.
“A sloppy start to the second. We didn’t manage the puck very well,” said Mike Vandekamp, Clippers coach.
He identified a lot of problem areas – guys were outworked in their own zone, Clippers players couldn’t establish a forecheck, there were too many lost battles and turnovers, and not enough saves.
“We’ve been trying not to pull our goaltenders, try to give them an opportunity to play through and see if we can get a guy on a little bit of a roll…” Vandekamp said. “But we didn’t defend well.”
He said the lack of a forecheck was a problem, because it was a major part of the game plan in trying to slow down a hot Kings team.
“We needed to make sure we played in the offensive zone more than in our own end. It was very important because they have a good club,” Vandekamp said.
Shots were 38-34 in favour of the visitors and Clippers goalies Austin Roden and Evan DeBrouwer split time in the crease in the loss.
The night before, the Clippers lost 4-1 to the Victoria Grizzlies on the road. Ben Solin scored early in the third period in that one to draw his team into a one-goal game, but the Shipmen got no closer. Nanaimo outshot Victoria 38-28 in the game and Roden suffered the loss.
Vandekamp said the Clippers would have to look at the blowout loss and try to find lessons in it.
“The fact that we don’t play till next Friday, I think, allows us an opportunity to learn from this one,” the coach said. “We have to start fresh on Monday because we’ve got a really big game next Friday.”
GAME ON … The Clippers play a home-and-home series against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs this coming weekend. The teams play Friday (Jan. 20) at Frank Crane Arena and then face off for a rematch the next night over the hump.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
