Generals losing-skid hits 12 games
The Moose Jaw Generals run of bad luck has taken a life of its own. Despite carrying the play for solid stretches of time and generating plenty of scoring opportunities, the Generals dropped a 7-2 decision to the Battlefords Stars at Mosaic Place on Sunday afternoon. The loss was the Generals’ 12th in a row and saw them fall to 6-13-1-1 on the season, good enough for a tie for ninth place, seven points back of the Notre Dame Hounds for the final playoff spot. “It’s been a tough go. They’ve been pretty good about being upbeat and we’ve tried all kinds of things to get them going,” said Generals coach Ray Wareham. “It’s on them, too; they have to be prepared to play; a couple of guys had a really rough night on the back-end tonight. It’s a challenge; you have to be ready and, unfortunately for us, we weren’t ready to go.” Things started out interestingly enough, with the Generals only trailing 3-2 after the first period on goals from Cody Davis and Steven Kesslering.
But while the Battlefords kept their offense going – scoring twice in the second and once more in the third – the Generals went ice cold.
“Three on one, two on ones and we don’t even get a shot on net,” Wareham said. “It’s not going our way and then they get a bounce or break and it’s in the net. It’s a tough struggle... Then they start losing confidence; we had a wide-open net and the guy shot over the puck, didn’t even touch the puck. That’s how it’s going for us. Even in odd-man situations, we had a few and I don’t know if we even registered a shot. Then you have some breakdowns and get chasing and it snowballs on you.”
Reece Hodson got the start and made 21 saves through a period and a half before giving way to Jaxson Taupert, who stopped 16 shots the rest of the way. The loss came on the heels of a visit to the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks last week, with the team hoping the fun trip would make a difference motivation-wise.
“We got away, the kids enjoyed themselves, and then things didn’t go our way,” Wareham said. “This wasn’t what I was expecting but we’re going to keep plugging away and keep going and do what we can to turn things around.” The Generals even had received some advice from a coach well-versed in the winning ways of hockey. “(University of North Dakota coach) Brad Berry came out and talked to the guys, too; they’re going through a bit of a funk themselves,” Wareham said. “He just encouraged them to stay on track and keep focused and don’t stray away from the plan because that’s when you get in trouble. It didn’t really work for us today.”