This Quality Foods Oceanside Generals suffered rare back-to-back losses last week in Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League action.
The Generals dropped a 4-2 decision against the Saanich Braves on the road on Friday night, and then the next night at home, after grabbing a 2-0 lead, gave up four consecutive goals to lose 4-2 against the Victoria Cougars.
The weekend did have a high point when the Generals collected a huge amount of stuffed toys after Dawson Heathcote scored the first goal against the Cougars on Saturday night. The collected toys would be distributed to different charities in Parksville Qualicum Beach area.
The Generals continue to lead the North Division with 20 wins and seven losses for 42 points and they sit third overall behind the league-leading Peninsula Panthers and the Cougars with 46 and 45 points, respectively.
Against the Braves, the Generals had more shots on goal but were not able to find the back of the net easily.
After giving up a goal in the first period, the Generals tied it up in the second and got the early lead in the third. But defensive lapses allowed the Braves to turn things around starting with an unassisted goal by Kyle Brown. Seconds later Braves got the go-ahead goal and just past the midway mark, netted a power-play goal to secure the win.
Scorers for the Generals were Will Norman and Cage Newans. Taking the loss between the pipes was Cedric Rechsteiner, who turned away 34 of 38 shots.
On Saturday night, Heathcote gave the Generals the lead late in the first that also got the Teddy Bear Toss going.
Landon Dziadyk netted another marker early in the second period to steer Generals to 2-0 lead. However after that, the Generals defence fell apart and allowed Cougars to score three goals in a row to end the period with a 3-2 lead.
The Generals sank deeper when the Cougars scored against early in the third. In the last two minutes, the Generals pulled goalie James Brendeland for the extra attacker but were unable to find the back of the net.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Generals this coming weekend as they face Peninsula. They do have home advantage but the last time the Panthers were in town, the Generals lost that game 6-2. The puck drops at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.