Brent Koch’s goal with 3:10 remaining snapped a tie and Tanner Douglas stopped 44 of 46 shots as the Quality Foods Oceanside Generals stunned the host Saanich Braves 3-2 in Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League play Wednesday night.
It was the only win for the Generals (11-28-1-1) in a busy, four-game week that wrapped up with a 6-1 home loss to the Campbell River Storms Saturday night.
The team will break from game action for a week before returning to Oceanside Place Arena Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. showdown against the Nanaimo Buccaneers.
The upset win over Saanich came in the middle of a three-game road swing against VIJHL-South foes. It was sandwiched between a 7-2 loss at Kerry Park Jan. 22 and a 4-1 defeat to the Peninsula Panthers Friday at Panorama Rec Centre.
Ironically, both Oceanside losses came against foes with losing records, while Wednesday’s win came over a Saanich squad (27-12-1-2) battling Victoria for the top spot in the South Division.
In Saanich Wednesday, the Generals trailed 2-1 entering the third period, but tied the game at 6:20 of the period on Blake McCulloch’s fourth goal in six games since joining the team at the Jan. 10 trading deadline.
Koch then converted off assists from Stratton Pickett and Logan Savard as the Generals prevailed despite being outshot 46-27 by the Braves.
Douglas improved to 5-4-1 with his second win in three starts. The 18-year-old rookie, acquired from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in early December, started his Generals career 3-0-1 before coming out of the Christmas break with three straight losses.
After a scoreless first period, the Braves sandwiched a pair of goals around Savard’s power-play score off an assist from Owen McDonald at 15:21.
Panthers 4, Generals 1
The game was a likely preview of a one-game playoff next month to determine the final entry in the VIJHL’s eight-team playoffs. Peninsula (8-30-0-3) holds the last-place spot in the league’s South Division, while the Generals are last in the North and 10 points out of seventh place with seven games remaining.
Storm 6, Generals 1
Douglas made 55 saves and forward Koby Adams-Loitz gave the Gens a brief 1-0 lead, but league-leading Campbell River (31-9-0-0) stormed back behind a 61-shot attack.
— NEWS Staff