A series of three losses over the weekend, including a loss to the Thorhild Titans, has put playoff contention in a distant view for the St. Paul Canadiens, who are going to focus on lightening the mood and playing for fun for the rest of the regular season, according to coach Aaron Block.
The weekend started off on Friday night with a 9 – 4 loss for the team against the eighth-ranked Titans, which sat just above the bottom-ranked Canadiens in the North East Alberta Junior B Hockey League. It was a “huge” game, said Block, since the Titans and the Canadiens were both looking to make the cut in advancing to playoffs by being among the top eight teams in the league.
“We had two five on threes early in the game . . . and we couldn’t capitalize. We just didn’t get the job done,” said Block. A momentum swing in the second saw the Titans notch in four goals, and “after that, the guys kind of lost their legs, lost their motivation, lost their passion.”
The Canadiens then looked to turn the tide around by welcoming the Saddle Lake Warriors to home ice on Saturday night, but instead, got trampled with a 9 – 1 loss, with the Warriors pounding their opponents with six goals in the second period.
The Canadiens remained scoreless up until the last few minutes of the game, when Pierre Sparklingeyes put in a goal, with assists from Brett Romanovich and Skylar Giroux to prevent a total shutout.
“It was disheartening,” Block said simply. The Canadiens fared even worse when the team welcomed the Vermilion Tigers to home ice on Sunday, losing 13 – 0.
Now the team is going to focus on “keeping it light in the dressing room,” Block said. There has been a lot of pressure on the team to generate some numbers for the wins column, since it only boasts two wins as of now, but Block noted, “When you lose sight of the enjoyment of the game, you just seize up – you seize up mentally, you seize up physically.”
The Canadiens will look to regroup in the off-season, he said, but the boys have a few more games to play in the regular season, starting with a Jan. 30 home game against the Vegreville Rangers. The puck drops at 3 p.m.
