The U18AAA Estevan Bears are heading to Prince Albert this weekend for a rematch after dropping two games last weekend.
Jason Johnstone, assistant coach for the Bears said the team will be focused on consistency heading into the next game.
“We had spurts of playing well, running our systems like we were supposed to, and then we kind of backed off and gave them opportunities,” he said. “When we play a full, consistent 60-minute hockey game, we’ll like the results a lot better.”
Between games, the Bears have been working on power plays and defensive zone structure.
“We’ll also want to engage our speed and strength on the forecheck, mostly wall battles,” Johnstone said. “We have a pretty big, strong team here, and we want to utilize that to our advantage for sure.”
Looking ahead to the next game, Johnstone said fans can expect “hopefully a lot more consistency and maybe get some goals on the power play, which we’ve been working on. It hasn’t been as effective as we’d like. So hopefully the power play can start clicking a little bit.”
Johnstone noted the Bears have had a solid start to the season, winning four of seven games so far.
“Last weekend was a little bit of a bump in the road as we had a pretty successful road trip the weekend before. So, we’re hoping to get it back on track here,” he said.
The first game in the rematch is Friday in Prince Albert at the Art Hauser Centre at 7 p.m. start time, followed by a second game on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.