The Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals have been playing hard as of late and the hard work paid off with a 10–3 victory over the Peninsula Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
It was a big game for the Gens, who came out a little slow until Brendan Bilotta opened the flood gates with the first goal. P.J. Heger had three goals, Tanner Browne and Gibson Doney scored two each, and Chase Gaudreault and Kyle Wade also scored.
Heger, who had four points, led the way for the Gens with defenseman Browne’s three points and Doney’s two not far behind. Also with two points were Jonah Pearson, newcomer Jordan Bautista, Keegan Kessler and Kyle Wade. This in a game where the Generals were short their captain, Wyatt Meiers (sick) and both Mathieu Jallabert and David Biagioni serving suspensions (Jallbert for one game and Biagioni for six).
“It’s a real team builder and it feels good to be on the other side of one for once,” forward Jonah Pearson said. “We know what it’s like to be on the wrong side of these games so it was nice to see we weren’t rubbing it in as the goals came. If we can put out the effort like this going forward and stay out of the box, we should come out with more wins like this.”
For Pearson, that’s seven points in his last six games (two goals, five assists), which puts him at the top of the Gens’ board. Both Kyle Wade and P.J. Heger have six points and newcomer Tanner Browne, who played his fifth game with the Gens Sunday, has five points (three goals, two assists) as a defenseman.
“It feels good to be pitching in back there,” Browne said. “The points don’t really matter as long as the wins pile up so having a game like this was really good. It doesn’t feel as good winning 10–3 as it would 4–3 but at the end of the day, it’s a game in the win column for us and that’s what we want.”
The next Gens game is Oct. 4 at home against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. Head coach Jason Johns was happy for his team getting a win at home and will look for more of the hard work and effort.
“This wasn’t as sound a game for us all around but it’s still a win,” Johns said. “We need to focus on being better in our own end and getting the pucks deep, those are a couple things we need to work on. It’s great to see them rewarded for their hard work though, guys were still putting their bodies on the line with 25 seconds left so it’s good to see that sort of thing.”
