The Quality Foods Oceanside Generals closed out 2018 with a 3-1 loss to the Westshore Wolves.
They are set to start 2019 on the road against one of the top teams in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, the Nanaimo Buccaneers on Thursday night at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.
The Generals have been playing well since new head coach Dan Lemmon took over the reins late last year. They recorded an impressive feat to date when they won six wins and had two losses last month.
One of their losses was in overtime meaning they’ve collected points in almost all of their games last month. They are now 11-20 and are seventh overall in the standings with 40 points.
Lemmon said he likes the way the team is bonding now.
“The closeness of this team is very obvious right now,” said Lemmon. “It’s the closest we’ve been all season and we’re showing it on ice right now.”
In the loss against the Wolves, the Generals only scorer was Elijah Goyer who netted the goal with just over 20 second left to play in the third period. Goyer has been strong offensively last month, racking up nine points out of eight games that included five goals.
Qualicum Beach product Landon Dziadyk garnered the most points in December with eight goals and four helpers. He leads the Generals in the point standings with 18 goals and nine assists.
Lemmon said they will be gunning for the four or five spot minimum by the end of the regular season going into the playoffs.
“It would be nice to have home advantage in the playoffs,” said Lemmon. “It’s still a long ways for us to be talking about that but, you know, the way we’ve been playing lately there’s no reason why we can’t go on a long run here and try and go into the four-five spot. That’s something me and the coaching staff talked about. But with the kids, it’s just one game at a time. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
The Generals return home against the top team in the South Division the Victoria Cougars on Saturday at Oceanside Place at 7 p.m.