It was a tough week on the ice for the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals, who lost back-to-back games on Thursday and Saturday night.
The Gens were home to the Westshore Wolves at Oceanside Place Saturday, looking to bounce back from an 11-2 loss at the hands of the Victoria Cougars last Thursday.
Looking a little sluggish to start the game, the Generals found themselves down 3-0 after the first period against the Wolves and couldn’t complete the comeback, losing 5-3.
Tristan Sailor, Conner Mowatt and Jeff Deblois each had goals for the Generals in the loss.
“You can’t win games in this league without guys who can score at this level,” head coach Brad Knight said. “They worked hard out there but if you can’t score goals, you aren’t going to win games. We’re two and 12 right now, so I really don’t know what else there is to say right now.”
The frustration was evident throughout the game for the Generals, trying to put the 11-2 loss behind them.
The team managed just three shots in the first period against the Wolves but would have a much stronger effort in the second and third periods, with the Wolves adding a fourth goal midway through the second that proved to be the game winner.
“It’s tough to have that happen,” team captain Chandler Bruyckere said. “You’re not going to do a whole lot with just three shots on net in a period. We came out flat when we needed to come out with some fire and wanting to prove to ourselves that the loss to the Cougars on Thursday didn’t sit well with us. But when we put out an effort like that, it’s just deflating for the team.”
“I’m glad that we were able to bounce back for the last 40 minutes but we just needed that same effort all the way through the game.”
This is a busy week for the Generals, with three practices before three games at the end of the week. Without Jonathan Veilleux and Jonah Pearson, who both left the team, the Generals hope to get leading scorer Mathieu Jallabert back from injury on Thursday night when they are in Nanaimo to take on the Buccaneers.
Saturday night they’re back at home to host the Saanich Braves (7:30 p.m. puck drop at Oceanside Place). They will then host to the Victoria Cougars on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
“We just don’t have an understanding of how to win,” Knight said. “It’s a combination of a few things and we just can’t catch a break either. We’re missing a couple of players, two guys who left the team and one guy injured so that takes a good portion of our offense out of it.”
“We just need to find a way to put the puck in the net; we need some guys that can score.”
