The U18 AAA Estevan Bears faced a tough challenge over the weekend against the Swift Current Legionnaires, the same team the Bears defeated last year to secure a playoff spot.
In the first game, the Bears struggled and were shut out 9-0.
“The first game we came out fairly slow. Things started going sideways on us and it just started snowballing from there, and we never could really get it back on the rails,” said Jason Johnstone, assistant coach for the Bears.
Despite the tough loss, Johnstone emphasized that the team never gave up. “It was a tough game, that first one for sure,” he said.
The Bears bounced back in the second game, but still came up short, losing 6-5 in a much closer contest.
“The second day I thought we came out and played a lot better. We got back to Bears Hockey. Quick through the neutral zone, taking pucks to the net, playing physical, winning battles. It was a lot better hockey game,” said Johnstone.
Although they showed improvement, a few mental errors led to costly mistakes in the final moments.
“As a whole, the second day it was a good bounce back, really would have been nice to get two points or a point at least out of the weekend there, but it didn’t work out that way,” said Johnstone.
Johnstone acknowledged the strength of the Legionnaires, praising their depth and high-level skill, as well as their solid goaltending.
“They’re fairly deep, they’ve got some really high-end skilled guys. As well, their goaltending is fairly strong,” said Johnstone. “We knew it was going to be a tough weekend going in, but we’ve had some good games against high-end teams, so we thought we’d go in there and we’re going for four points for sure. I’m hoping to get out of there with four or two points, and it just didn’t work out, but yeah, they’re a good opponent.”
Despite the losses, the Bears showed positive signs, especially in their power play during the second game.
“I think probably in the second game our power play started clicking a little bit, which we’ve been struggling a little bit with our power play throughout the year so far and things started coming together for us in the second game. Obviously, in the first game we didn’t do anything, but our power play was good,” said Johnstone.
He also mentioned mixing up the lines to help spark the team.
“We kind of mixed the lines up a little bit as well on the second game, and I think there were some positives there as well,” said Johnstone.
After a day of rest on Tuesday, the Bears returned to practice, focusing on preparing for their next challenge—the Saskatoon Contacts.
“We haven’t played them yet this season, but they’re a pretty good team,” said Johnstone. “Big draw area up there. They usually have skilled guys, so it’ll be a test again going into this weekend for sure.”
Johnstone is confident the team will improve after a strong week of practice. “Starts at practice. Had a good chat with the boys before practice here and get our heads back straight because we know we’re a better hockey team than we showed on the weekend. So just get it grounded back, work hard at practice, work on the stuff we do well and then head back into the weekend and try to play our game, and we usually like the results when we do that,” he said.