A tough road back
Cubs drop fifth straight
The Medicine Hat Travelodge Cubs hope to have earned a slight mental victory in Saturday’s 5-2 setback to the Cochrane Generals — their fifth loss in a row.
While goals have been hard to come by for the 6-11-0 Cubs, collecting just eight over the course of their five-game skid, two of those markers came in the final minute of Saturday’s loss, breaking Generals goaltender Erik Garber’s shutout bid and hopefully, says Cubs coach JD Gaetan, giving his squad a much-needed boost of confidence.
“We’ve struggled scoring goals the last couple games so it’s going to take goals like we had there at the end, getting pucks to the net, cashing the net and getting dirty goals. We’ve been trying to make the fancy plays, making passes that aren’t there and trying to do too much. We have to get back to the basics,” said Gaetan. “We showed a little bit of life at the end of the third so that’s a positive we can take into practice next week, but I definitely expect a lot more.”
Noah Irvine and Matt Clement scored the two goals over the course of 15 seconds, but they came in the final minute of regulation and merely dented Cochrane’s lead.
The Generals rallied four two goals in the first from Brandon Aab and Austin Keller before doubling up in the second. Slater Ransom and Aab stretched the lead to four, then Talus Hume left the Cubs buried in a five-goal deficit midway through the third.
While the Cubs rallied to win the third, and the small victories stand for something, Cubs captain Quinten Karg says they’re simply not enough.
“We’re a heavy rookie team and we’ve got to figure out a way to win,” he said. “There are a lot of good teams and the league is so tight this year. Points are hard to get so we’ve got to find a way to win.”
TJ Goldie took the loss after allowing two goals on 12 shots, while Martyn Clift stopped 27 of 30 through 40 minutes of work. Garber finished with a 22-save victory to push the Generals to 11-8-0 on the Heritage Junior Hockey League season.
The Cubs return to the ice Saturday in Three Hills against the Thrashers (0-12-0).