With the Christmas break over, the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals are back in action this Saturday night as they take on the Campbell River Storm.
Jan. 2, 2016, marks the first game back from Christmas break for the Generals, who will have 15 games left on the schedule to try and make up ground in the standings.
Currently, the Generals sit in last place in the VIJHL, eight points behind the Comox Valley Glacier Kings in the North division and just six points behind the Saanich Braves for eighth place in the VIJHL standings.
“We want third place in our division,” head coach Brad Knight said. “That’s our goal with our remaining games, to catch Comox Valley. We feel it’s within our reach, we think that we’re capable of catching them and getting a first round matchup against the Nanaimo Buccaneers. We’re going to be seeing them a couple more times, but it’s not going to be easy.
“We’re going to see Campbell River a few more times and we’ll see the Victoria Cougars a few more times too, so we’ve got our fair share of challenges to make up ground.”
With time left before the trade deadline to make a few more deals, there are at least two, possibly three moves the Generals are looking to make before it’s all said and done.
“We’ve got room for a few moves,” Knight said. “I’d like to make a couple of moves. We’ve got a few players here who don’t want to buy into the team game and we don’t need that here. We need to have guys in here that want to play a team game, that want to work hard and if we don’t see that, we’ll look to move them, plain and simple.”
Not having everyone on the same page can be a tough thing to deal with, but the Generals are doing what they can to continue to try and win hockey games.
“It’s not the most ideal situation,” captain Cam Nickerson said. “Obviously, having a few guys in the locker room that are like that, it makes things a little tough for the rest of the guys in the room. But we’re doing what we can. You can’t call them out on it because it’s not going to do anyone any good, especially if we’re going to be working together for the rest of the season. We’ll eventually get it figured out. This team has been working hard and we’ll continue to do that for the rest of the season.”
