But there鈥檚 no need to claw too far into the skin before you figure out what exactly has caused the now 5-2 team to slip in the standings.
Victoria surrendered 13 goals to Maple Ridge 鈥� who they play again tonight at 7:45 p.m. at Bear Mountain Arena 鈥� in a 13-10 defeat and allowed 12 to Burnaby in a 12-11 setback. In between, they managed to sandwich in a 9-8 victory over Nanaimo in a six-day stretch.
The 25 goals against in the two losses were far too many, especially considering the Shamrocks had allowed an average of just seven a game against in their first four outings 鈥� all wins, by the way.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a little bit of it,鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes. 鈥淎 lot of it comes down to ball management and the offence, at times, forcing things. I鈥檓 not too concerned with the amount of goals we gave up, we have a good defence. With our team we should be able to score ourselves out of those problems.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 a shootout, we should be able to win a shootout and if it鈥檚 tight, we should be able to win those, too. It鈥檚 still a work in progress though,鈥� added Heyes, who isn鈥檛 about to panic. 鈥淚鈥檓 not concerned, we have a lot of work to do and the guys realize that.鈥�
Throw into the mix that starting netminder Matt Flindell has been out due to injury.
Flindell did practise on Wednesday and his decision will come down to game time.
In no way was Heyes about to blame backup Josh Phillips for the latest result 鈥� the loss to Burnaby. Phillips did earn the win in Nanaimo.
鈥淗e鈥檚 had an outstanding attitude,鈥� Heyes said of Phillips. 鈥淗e鈥檚 taken a lot of rubber and he has good shooters here at practice. There鈥檚 nothing that substitutes for being out there in a game.
鈥淚 was happy with Josh in the Nanaimo game, he came up with some big saves. In Burnaby, that was a bit of a learning experience for him.鈥�
But he didn鈥檛 get all the support he needed, either.
鈥淭here are ups and downs to every season. We鈥檙e in a little bit of a down spot, but it could be good for us in the long run,鈥� said defender Dylan Evans, who said such adversity builds character.
鈥淢ost teams are going to have a blip in their schedule where they play a lot of games in a few nights,鈥� offered Heyes. 鈥淚 think we put ourselves into a good situation where we beat Langley the first time [two days before], then we lost to Maple Ridge, beat Nanaimo and had a chance against Burnaby, but ran out of bodies, really.
鈥淭he guys still played well,鈥� added Heyes. 鈥淭heir goaltender made a few key saves in the third period to give them that win.
鈥淓very team is up for us, every team is going to work their butts off against us. We have to ensure we work smart enough.鈥�
CLOVER POINTS: Maple Ridge is also 5-2 on the season ... Tonight is Family Night where two adults and two children can enter for $20. Each additional child can enter for $2 with the family pass.
