The Quality Foods Oceanside Generals salvaged a morale-boosting 4-0 win over the Kerry Park Islanders at home on Saturday night, after suffering back-to-back loses to the Westshore Wolves (7-6) and Campbell River Storm (6-3).
Unlike the two losses they experienced against the Wolves on Jan. 22 and the Storm on Jan. 24, where the Generals gave up easy goals in the first period in both games, they played hard from start to finish against the visiting Islanders in Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League action.
Head coach Dan Lemmon said it has been tough for the Generals since December. He pointed out they’ve had players who have been injured and added some new players to the roster. He said they’re still learning to play as a team.
“At time it has been a struggle for our team,” said Lemmon. “It seems like we’re not getting full team effort. We’re getting 18 guys every game or 15 guys. I think over the last five games we’ve been pretty good. I know from the Westshore game we just had a bad start. They had three goals but we evened it up. We kind of battled back but we couldn’t get it done. We did the same exact thing in Campbell River. So tonight’s win was a big confidence-booster. Our guys needed this win.”
In the first period alone against the Islanders, the Generals scored first on Foster Martin’s goal near the halfway mark. And although they dominated offensively outshooting the Islander 18-7, they weren’t able to totally solve Islanders goalie Spencer Deakin, who was outstanding between the pipes.
The Generals didn’t let up offensively in the second and just over 30 seconds into the frame, Liam Moody made it 2-1 and just a minute later Trey Boylan added another goal. Isaac Leik added more to the Generals lead when he scored on a power play near the halfway mark. They were up 4-0 at the end of the second.
In the third, the Generals were not able to score again but held on to their 4-0 lead and help goaltender Jakob Sweet secure his first shut out of the season since returning to the Generals. He stopped 26 shots.
The Generals are back on the road Jan. 31 to play the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Jan. 31 at the Comox Valley Sports Centre. They’re back home on Feb. 1 against the Saanich Braves at Oceanside Arena at 7 p.m.
