The season has come to an end for the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals, losing 8-0 to the Campbell River Storm on Tuesday night, sweeping them out of the first round of the VIJHL playoffs.
With a shorter bench on Tuesday night, thanks to an injury to David Biagioni and a suspension to captain Gibson Doney, the Generals did all they could to try and hang in there with the Storm, but it was too little too late.
The Generals were outplayed from the opening faceoff, managing just three shots on goal in the first period. They ran in to penalty trouble in the second period, which saw three players on the receiving end of 10-minute misconducts, including Jordan Bautista with a game misconduct.
“It’s never fun to go out that way,” Parksville’s Jarrett Weme said following the Game Four loss. “It just sucks, losing four straight and getting knocked out in the first round.”
“We played well in the first two periods of every game but just couldn’t find that extra gear for the last period and that really hurt us.”
Tuesday’s contest also marked the final game in the career for Parksville’s Travis Flug, who played his entire junior career with the Generals.
The hometown product was given a nice ovation after the game was over, including a classy send off from his teammates when it was all said and done.
“I had a great time being a General,” Flug said after the game. “There were a lot of good times even though there were quite a few hard times as well.”
“There’s just been so much support from so many people and to be able to come up through the system here, watching this team growing up and getting the chance to play here, it was real special and I’m going to have a lot of good memories from it all.”
Heading into the offseason, the Generals will be taking to the Oceanside Place ice for practices until the ice is removed.
Head coach Rob Gaudreault thinks that will go a long way in helping get players to develop a strong bond together before spring camp and next season’s training camp.
“This team is going to have a good core coming back,” Gaudreault said. “We were a young team this season but these guys got a lot of valuable experience and game time and learned that things don’t come quite as easy as you think they will.”
“I think that the team is going to be in good shape coming into next season and I feel they’re going to surprise a lot of people.”
For now, the season is officially over but the start of the offseason means that hard work and training is going to be at a premium, especially for those who are looking to come back to the Generals next season or want to make the jump to the junior A level.
“I don’t want to play anywhere else,” Weme said. “I’m a Parksville kid and if I’m going to be playing anywhere next year, it’s going to be with the Gens.”