The Quality Foods Oceanside Generals need to play with more consistency, the team’s coach said following a weekend split in Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League play.
After scoring a narrow 4-3 win against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Friday night on the road, the next day at home, the Generals came out flat and were shut out by the Campbell River Storm 3-0.
Although they earned two points over the weekend, head coach Jesse Hammill was not happy with the way the Generals played, particularly on Saturday night against the Storm.
“We set up a system and it’s not to play negative hockey,” said Hammill. “There was no jump. For 15 minutes that second period we were on them, we were playing good hockey, and then all of a sudden it switched back to the first period. (Friday) night’s first period was pretty similar in Comox.”
Against the Glacier Kings, the Generals survived a late rally. They led 2-0, on goals by Isaac Finner and Jared Winkel, going into the third period. The Glacier Kings scored early to make it 2-1 but ten seconds later, Noah Goyer regained the Generals’ two-point lead. The Glacier Kings continued to press and earned back-to-back goals to tie it up 3-3. With less than two minutes to play, the Generals got a lucky break and scored a power play goal by Andre Sutter. It ended up as the winning goal.
The next day against the Storm, the Generals were unable to create a lot of scoring opportunities as they were mostly confined to their own zone, defending against the unyielding offense of the Storm. The defense held the Storm to just a goal in the first but in the second period, lapses in defence allowed the Storm to score two goals in a row to deny the Generals any chance of a comeback.
Hammill said he’s disappointed with the effort.
“It just wasn’t there as a whole,” said Hammill. “Our d-men, I don’t feel played great but they were battling at least. I think we were a little soft with the forward lines.”
It was goalie Jacob Sweet that kept the Generals in the game against the Glacier Kings and the Storm and earned top star in both games. He made 25 saves against Comox and 38 saves against the Storm.
The Generals will play back-to-back games at home this coming week. They take on the South Division leaders Westshore Wolves on Saturday at Oceanside Place at 7 p.m. and then on Sunday face the Victoria Cougars at 2:30 p.m.
