It was a tough way to end a busy week for the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals, dropping a 10-2 decision to the Saanich Braves at home Saturday night.
The Gens were playing their third game in three days after losses to the Nanaimo Buccaneers (8-3) and the Peninsula Panthers (7-4).
“It was a tough way to end our week, for sure,” head coach Rob Gaudreault said after the game Saturday night. “We came out slow, we came out lazy, we didn’t play to our game plan and we took some weak penalties that shouldn’t have happened. I was impressed that we kicked back in that third period after being out played for 40 minutes.”
The tough week was even tougher in the final game as injuries to captain Gibson Doney, forwards Tristan Sailor, Chase Gaudreault and defensemen David Biagioni and Josh Harvey all came against the Braves on Saturday night.
“It’s tough on a team when we’ve got a smaller roster to begin with,” Gaudreault said. “Then to see five guys get hurt in the same game, it’s tough. But we just need to keep on preaching what we’ve been telling these guys about systems, that’s all we can do going forward here.”
For Gaudreault, it was especially tough having the showing the team did in front of the hometown crowd, who have been there through thick and thin for the team since the start of the season.
“The fans have been amazing to us all season,” Gaudreault said. “I feel bad for disappointing them with this last game. It’s the first time that they’ve seen this from our team all season at home. It’s been a long year for everyone, including our fans, but they’ve stuck with us through it all and I can’t thank them enough for that.”
Frustrations started to show in the second period and were still there when Gaudreault spoke after the loss.
“It’s frustrating, the way things have been going. We’ve been showing them systems to work with as a team and when we’ve got guys who are going out and playing their own system, it doesn’t work as a team. It’s been 44 games now and we’re still having these problems, so it’s frustrating.”
Looking ahead the Gens have just one game this weekend against the first place Campbell River Storm (35-4-1) on Saturday night at Oceanside Place (7:30 pm).
“We’re going to work on special teams, penalty killing in particular,” Gaudreault said. “It’s been weak all year. We’ve been working on it pretty much every single practice and I’m puzzled. We’ve been showing them what to do and it hasn’t been translating over to games, it’s very puzzling and frustrating for us.”