“It sucks,” Oceanside head coach and GM Dave Johnston answered quickly when asked his take on his team’s bye-week.
“We’ve been turning the corner, starting to get some momentum, and now we have a week off.”
One thing you can be certain of though is that Johnston and company will be using the break in the scheduling to iron out some kinks.
Beyond that, it looks like Johnston is content with the hand he’s holding.
His final move at the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) trade deadline, signing Nanaimo Clipper Tristan Lowenberger, turns out to be a non-move, really, as it looks like the 19-year-old forward may be gone for the season.
Clippers’ head coach and GM Mike Vandekamp said Lowenberger, from Coquitlam, “has been dealing with a knee injury all year ... at the time of the (trade) deadline he was in the middle of having it assessed, and we weren’t exactly sure what the results of those assessments were going to be.
“Dave had a roster spot so we agreed we would put him on their roster and affiliate him with our team, but it looks like the doc might want to shut him down and do surgery, so it becomes a moot point ... it is what it is.”