After their double overtime victory last weekend, the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals are looking for more wins this weekend, with two games against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings.
Friday night the Gens are in action in Comox, taking on the Glacier Kings who sit five points ahead of the Generals in the North Division standings.
With the potential to earn four points, they know that these games need to be won to get back in the hunt in the north division.
“These are games we need to win,” general manager Rob Gaudreault said. “We’re looking up at the rest of the teams in our division right now and having the chance to make a four-point swing is something that we can’t look past.”
“We’ve beat Comox once this year, they’ve beat us once this year, so on paper it’s an even match up.”
“We just need to remember that games aren’t played on paper, they’re played on the ice and we need to have these games if we want to prove we’re a better team than the standings show.”
The Generals hope to build off their 6-5 win over the Peninsula Panthers last week when coach Brad Knight wasn’t behind the bench. He returns to his familiar spot this weekend.
“It’s good to play against a team like Comox,” Knight said. “You know that they’re going to bring it no matter what the score is.”
“They’re the kind of team that doesn’t stop battling even when they’re down, it doesn’t make a difference to them,” Knight said.
“They play from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer and that’s the kind of competition you need to play against to make yourself better.”
“These are important games for us and we’ve got a good shot at earning four points over the weekend.”
Last weekend was the first game for newest General Troy MacRavish, who comes to the team from the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers.
“He’s listed on our roster,” Gaudreault said. “But he’s still with the Clippers as well. It works out that he’ll be practising and playing with them the majority of his time, but if he’s not being used when we’ve got a game, then he’ll come play for us.”
“It works out well for us because Troy’s a good player who has good hands and a nose for the net. Plus he’s got that experience at the BCHL level as well, which can sometimes rub off on other players on the team as well in terms of seeing what it takes to get to that next level.”
The Generals also have three goalies vying for ice time in the crease once again as Austin Caktas was moved to the Lower Mainland, making room for Matt Henwood to come in and challenge for time between the pipes.
“We’re looking at all three goalies,” Gaudreault said. “The more competition you can have, the better it will make a player. Sometimes it’s needed in situations where you can bring someone else in to either help motivate someone or find out what you’ve got, so we’ll see what happens.”
Saturday night the Generals are back at home at Oceanside Place, 7:30 p.m. puck drop against the Glacier Kings.
