The Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals closed a busy week on the ice at home against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Sunday afternoon, losing 5-2 at Oceanside Place.
After beating the Glacier Kings earlier in the week by a score of 4-2, the Gens dropped their second game in a row after losing to the Campbell River Storm last Friday 4-1.
The Generals were up 2-1 heading into the third period where the Glacier Kings went on to score four unanswered goals, two of them empty net goals.
Jeff Deblois and Jordan Bautista scored for the Generals while goaltender Braddock Otton kept them in the game throughout, making some key saves when they needed it.
“I’d say that was our worst performance as a team to date,” head coach Brad Knight said following the 5-2 loss on Sunday.
“We didn’t come prepared to play this game, plain and simple. If I were going to put a finger on it, I’d put it on selfish play from our veterans.”
“Took some bad penalties, made some bad choices with the puck and our power play didn’t help us at all, which we needed it to,” Knight said. “Other than that, it’s a work in progress.”
With the back-to-back losses, the Generals record sits at one win, five losses and one tie through their first seven games of the season.
“We’re not six and one, we’re one and five,” Knight said. “So why aren’t you prepared to play? It’s just one of those things. At the end of the day, the Titanic didn’t turn on a dime, it turned on a half-mile radius, and so it takes time.”
“You need athletes who want to compete. If you don’t have that, if they don’t want to compete, there’s not much else you can say really. I could give all the speeches in the world, if they don’t want to compete; it’s not going to matter. They have to want to compete.”
The loss to Comox Valley followed a loss to Campbell River in a penalty filled game that saw a bench clearing brawl and suspensions handed out (Campbell River’s Reece Costain for six games and Keenan Scardina for one).
As the calendar turns over to October, the Oceasnide Generals next game comes against the Peninsula Panthers on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Oceanside Place in Parksville (7:30 p.m. puck drop).
They’ll need to find a way to turn things around and get back in the win column and it all starts within the team itself.
“We need to play like a team,” forward Mathieu Jallabert said. “There’s only so much you can do when we’re trying to do things on our own.”
“We’ve been down that road before and we know where it leads, we don’t want that to happen again. It’s tough but it needs to be done and we’re not going to get it done just talking about it.”
“Those changes need to come out there on the ice, we need to show that we can play the kind of game we’re capable of playing, not just talk about it.”