With three games in three days, the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals had their work cut out for them throughout the weekend.
Two of their three games came against the Campbell River Storm, with a meeting against the Peninsula Panthers in between. The Generals had their best chance at a win on Saturday night against the Panthers, but lost 4-3 in overtime.
“I thought that was our best effort of the weekend,” assistant coach Jerry Bickerton said. “We came out flat on Friday night in Campbell River and didn’t really adjust that well throughout.”
“We had a tough time defending against them down low and they made us pay. But I thought Saturday night we had our best effort, we battled throughout the entire game and never quit when we were down. I feel we deserved a bit better fate in that one but we’ll still take the point.”
Friday and Sunday the Oceanside Generals took on the Campbell River Storm, giving up 110 shots in the two games.
The Gens lost on Friday night by 5-2 in Campbell River and were beat 10-0 at home on Sunday afternoon.
“We gave up too many shots,” Bickerton said. “When you give up that many shots, chances are you’re going to give up a good amount of scoring chances too. It doesn’t do us any good to give up that many shots and we’re going to have to find a way to try and scale it back to give ourselves a better chance at winning.”
Friday night’s game was much closer in terms of competitiveness between the Generals and Storm, where the Gens have played the Storm quite well on the road in Campbell River.
While at home, the Generals can’t seem to find their game against the North Division leading Storm, who now have won 13 of their last 14 games against the Generals dating back to last season.
“They’re a great team,” Bickerton said. “They do a lot of things well when they have the puck and we had a hard time defending against that this weekend.”
“Playing them twice in the span of three days is great though in my eyes, it allows for more emotions between the two teams and has the potential to spark a bit of a rivalry.”
Saturday night against the Peninsula Panthers was indeed the Generals’ best effort of the weekend all around. In what was a spirited game between the two teams — including a fight between newcomer Dayton Keith of the Generals and Michael Sproule of the Panthers — the Generals continued to battle after the tilt between the two.
Parksville’s Brodie Smith continued his hot play as of late with a beautiful snipe on Saturday night, giving him eight points (six goals, two assists) in his first four games back with the Generals.
Next up for the Oceanside Generals is a Thursday night game in Nanaimo against the Nanaimo Buccaneers, 7:15 p.m. puck drop.
The Generals will then wrap up the calendar year with a home game against the Kerry Park Islanders on Saturday, 7:30 p.m. puck drop at Oceanside Place.
