Generals split pair at Warman Showcase

Both times the Moose Jaw Generals have lost to their northern rivals the Prince Albert Mintos, through the first few weeks of the season, they’ve been able to bounce back with wins. That included this past weekend where the Generals dropped a 4-1 decision to Prince Albert at the Warman Showcase on Friday before rebounding with a 2-1 win over the Tisdale Trojans Sunday night.

The split gives the Generals a 2-2 record on the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League season, with all four of those contests on the road.

“It’s going alright; P. A. seems to have our number with both of our losses. For whatever reason, we just weren’t at our best against them,” Wareham said. “The encouraging thing is we did have two bounce back games after playing those guys.”

The Generals opened scoring against Prince Albert, with Cody Davis scoring only 30 seconds into the game, but that would be all the offence they could muster from there on in as the Mintos scored twice in each of the next two periods.

Reece Hodson made 38 saves in the loss.

Things were much better against Tisdale, who came into the game undefeated in the season.

Skyler Sangster scored the game-winning goal on the power play with 4:58 remaining to secure the win, with Carey Levesque scoring their other goal in the second period.

“We competed extremely hard, which was encouraging, and we found a way to win,” said Wareham. “It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the encouraging thing is we really did compete and battle and were able get enough to pull it off.”

Hodson picked up the win with 36 saves.

Seeing the team have up and down results through their first four games has been a touch surprising to Wareham, given the amount of experience the team has this season.

“They seem nervous at times, but I think it’s because they want it so bad after what they went through last year,” Wareham said. “They put so much pressure on themselves so we’re just trying to get them to relax and go play. But one thing you can always control is how hard you work and when they work they’re a pretty tough bunch to play against.”

The Generals were back in action Oct. 2 when they travelled to Notre Dame for their first meeting with the Hounds. No score was available as of press time. Their first home game is Oct. 11 when they take on the Swift Current Legionnaires.