The Quality Foods Oceanside Generals put themselves back in contention, beating the Victoria Cougars 3-2 in Game 3 of their best-of-seven Vancouver Island Junior Hockey playoff series on Sunday. The Cougars lead the series 2-1.
After a 3-1 loss in a heated match in Game 1 in Victoria (Thursday, Feb. 28) that landed head coach Dan Lemmon and assistant coach Scott Bickerton with three-game suspensions and a heartbreaking double-overtime 4-3 loss at home on Saturday night at Oceanside Place, the Generals bounced back and played with urgency on Sunday in Victoria to earn their first win in the series.
The Generals aim to even up the series when they host the Cougars in Game 4 at Oceanside Place Tuesday at 7 p.m.
On Sunday, it was the Generals who took the early lead at 1:26 scored by Landon Dziadyk. The Cougars evened it up when Cameron LeSergent got the puck past Generals goaltender James Brendeland, who ended up with 23 saves in the game.
Past the midway mark, Matteo Giomo regained the Generals lead but it was shortlived as the Cougars tied it up just over a minute later, netted by Booker Chacalias.
In the second period, the match was closely fought with neither getting good shots. The Generals got a good break when Liam Moody scored at 15:26 in what turned out to be the winning goal in the end as neither teams were able to score again.
Prior to the game on Sunday, general manager Andrew Riddell, following their 4-3 double overtime loss to the Cougars said being down 2-0 was not fun but they were not about to give up.
“I told the kids, there’s no road maps in winning four games in a seven-game series,” said Riddell. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get it as long as it’s your the team that gets the four wins. It’s going to take a little longer for us.”