The Banff Hockey Academy Bears’ male prep team hosted back-to-back games against OHA Edmonton at the Fenlands arena last weekend (Nov. 30-Dec. 1), losing 8-2 on Saturday and 7-1 on Sunday.
BHA’s Jarrod Gale and Henning Schumann scored in Saturday’s game and James Hooton scored the lone goal in Sunday’s loss.
The losses, the team's fifth straight, dropped the Bears’ record to 1-17 and put the team in the basement of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
Injuries and constantly mixing lines have hampered the team and contributed to some of its biggest issues: puck management and competing for 60 minutes, said BHA president Bill Doherty. However, the BHA is imploring its players to put an emphasis on self improvement.
"We want [them] to focus on being the best [they] can be,” Doherty said. “If our guys can get into understanding that the team can be as perfect as it can be by everyone contributing to be the best they can be.
“There’s a lot of uncoordinated play, not a lot of support on pucks that are loose, and not a lot of plays with connection on them,” added Doherty, who sat behind the bench in both games. “Some of it is related to confidence, just being more confident with the puck and more patient, but at the same time being quicker with it, so it’s a bit of a challenge to be quicker but also be calm so that our decisions are smart.”
After being bombed out 8-2 on Saturday, the fired up Bears got up 1-0 after the first in Sunday’s game for a rare, strong 20 minutes out of the team.
“We had a great start, we worked really hard for that goal,” said BHA captain Lucas Moeckl. “We were looking forward to the second, emotionally we were on the same high as we were on first period just trying to keep it calm and play defensive hockey and go from there.”
The second period played out much differently, however, with OHA scoring four unanswered goals including two power play goals. The onslaught zapped the BHA boys’ energy.
“We can compete for a good amount of the time, but sometimes we just die and we just can’t come back from it and sometimes the score shows, but we try,” said goalie Jean Berthaudin.
Doherty praised the netminders efforts, but said the team “certainly looked flat” after the first.
Berthaudin was pulled in the third period on Sunday after saving 37 of 42 shots in just over 44 minutes of action.
“We’re just going to try to forget about this weekend, act like it never happened, practice our hearts out this week and be ready for the weekend coming up,” Berthaudin said.
Banff Hockey Academy hosts its Christmas Challenge Cup from Dec. 6-8 at Banff Fenlands arena.
We're thrilled to be hosting the Banff Hockey Academy Christmas Challenge Cup this upcoming weekend December 6th - 8th. 🏒
— Banff Hockey Academy (@BanffHockey) December 3, 2019
Make sure to mark your calendar! 🗓
📸 Tara G. pic.twitter.com/J3JP5qdiS3
