The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins are looking for a change in fortunes after a tough weekend saw them lose three games in a row.
With a home and road loss to the Yorkton Terriers and another road loss to the Weyburn Red Wings, the team isn't in the best position as the regular season closes in less than a month.
Interim Head Coach Drew Kocur says the losses were tough and there are lessons to be learned.
"Initial thoughts, I thought Friday night obviously wasn't our best effort. I really liked our resilience, to come back, be 5-4 after one and then kind of let the game slip away there. They scored some power-play goals and backdoor goals and that was the game and then Saturday we did really good job. I thought we deserved better. I thought we shared the pace most of the night and we came within literally seconds of tying the game up late in the third period there."
While another loss came by on Monday Kocur is also positive considering what the team learned.
"Good game again for us. I thought we were good, we were energetic, and we shared the pace again. Scoring early was nice and then kind of a few breakdowns early in the 1st and then I felt we rallied back again the second there and made a good game of it."
While the Bruins did lose those games, Kocur says that they did lose those to some of the best teams in the league and their close play means the team does have hope.
"I think you look at the last number of games, we're scoring a lot of goals, which is nice to see. Playing the top teams is tight, trying to defend the best. We're seeing positives every night and for us, it's just trying to build on those and chip away at things here. We really have some good habits here and building blocks for the remainder of the year."
With just over a month of time as interim head coach, Kocur says that he's adapting well to the role.
"Obviously it's been busy and just a lot more on the plate for sure. But I think time management-wise it's been pretty solid. It's just gonna take a day by day and just start it better every day we're at the rink."
With a game against the Notre Dame Hounds on Friday Kocur says the team is getting ready to come out strong this weekend.
"For us, it's just probably trying to defend a little better, keep our goals against lower the rest of the way here. That'll be obviously a big point for us to work on, but other than that, for us is just to keep working hard every night, be a blue-collar hockey team and hope for the best."
With just a handful of games left the Bruins will need to get a good few wins if they want to qualify for the playoffs starting this spring.