鈥淚 think our team learned a valuable lesson on return from the [Christmas] break,鈥� Grizzlies general manager and head coach Bill Bestwick said of watching his team鈥檚 five-game win streak snapped in a 6-4 loss.
鈥淥ur record doesn鈥檛 mean anything to anybody. The wins we had in September till now don鈥檛 count, pretty much. What it鈥檚 done has put the level of expectation on our team higher and other teams are certainly not taking us lightly.鈥�
The Grizzlies were flat through the opening period and were fortunate to be down just 1-0 against Nanaimo.
鈥淚 think in that first game back we actually took ourselves lightly, we didn鈥檛 take ourselves seriously and I think we learned a very valuable lesson, and I鈥檓 glad we learned it the first game back,鈥� Bestwick said.
鈥淲e let ourselves down, we let our fans down and we let our guard down. We weren鈥檛 up to par for our team and we can鈥檛 expect to continue to win hockey games if we play as loose and sloppy as we did.
鈥淲e played poorly. We didn鈥檛 have our thinking caps on. Our hockey IQ was awful,鈥� he stressed.
And his captain, Zach Urban, had the same message as the 22-9-0-2 Grizzlies prepared for the 8-19-0-2 Capitals, who occupy last spot in the Island Division, before Victoria returns home to face Nanaimo again on Friday and Powell River on Sunday afternoon.
鈥淚t definitely was not our best game, coming back after the break. We obviously wanted to get off to a better start and anybody who watched it knew that wasn鈥檛 our best game,鈥� said Urban.
鈥淲e need to be better than that. We all know that was not our game, not how the Grizzlies play or played before the break,鈥� added Urban.
鈥淣ow we have three division opponents coming up and that鈥檒l show how good we are and show if we can come up with three wins. We definitely need to bounce back after the last one.鈥�
The Grizzlies are facing a changed Capitals team as general manager and head coach Jim Ingram has made recent moves, sending goalie Derek Dun to Nanaimo and defenceman Troy Paterson to the Surrey Eagles, both in exchange for future considerations.
He also picked up defenceman Nathan Deyell from Penticton for futures and goaltender Patrick Spano from the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e disappointed in how things have materialized so far this year and they鈥檙e taking steps to correct that for next year, getting kids in uniform now to see if they can play at this level,鈥� said Bestwick, who will go with Brady Rouleau in net tonight and likely juggle goaltending as they get back home for Nanaimo and Powell River.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e hard-working teams, and Cowichan is also hard working and everybody there will want to make a favourable impression on their coaching staff,鈥� added Bestwick.
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