MOUNT WILLIAM – Unless you looked at the scoreboard, the Junior A Crushers came out of last Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Truro Bearcats relatively unscathed.
No injuries, no suspensions.
“We didn’t have enough conviction in our play to get a suspension or injury,” said head coach Doug Doull, after a few days mulling over his team’s lackluster performance against a division rival.
“How do you get hurt putting up wallpaper?”
The Crushers only goal of the game against Truro came off the stick of Evan MacLennan, who has four goals in five games this season for the Crushers (1-2-2). His goal gave Pictou County a 1-0 lead, but Truro soon took over and would win going away, led by two goals from former Weeks Major Midgets’ forward Gavin Hart.
Pictou County haven’t won since their season opener on Sept. 13 and they’ll be hoping to break a four-game slide against the South Shore Lumberjacks on Thursday (7 p.m. at the Pictou County Wellness Centre).
“I think Thursday’s a huge game for us,” said Jacob Hickey. “It’d be a big bounce-back after the last game we had, which we should just forget about.”
After they’re done with South Shore, Pictou County will head to Truro for a Saturday night game against the ’Cats.
The Crushers were coming off two solid road games (both overtime losses) the previous weekend and had hoped to put on a better display in front of their fans against Truro.
“We stayed at one level. It was sub-par for what we expected, and there were a lot of vanilla performances out there,” Doull added.
“In all honestly, you look at our guys and we’re a lunch pail group. We’ll have to put (the Truro game) behind us and focus on these next two games.”
PICTOU COUNTY CRUSHERS
Record: 1-2-2 (fifth place, South Division)
Top Scorers: Barrett Dachyshyn (2G, 6A), Dylan Riley (1G, 6A), Evan MacLennan (4G, 51A).
Stats Say: The Crushers have held a lead in every game they’ve played this season.
SOUTH SHORE LUMBERJACKS
Record: 2-2-1 (fourth place, South Division)
Top Scorers: Cody Grant (4G, 2A), Christian Tsukamoto (2G, 3A), Bair Gendunov (2G, 2A).
Stats Say: The Lumberjacks have been shorthanded 30 times this season, tied for the league high with Pictou County.
NOTE: The Pictou County Wellness Centre will play host to the MHL’s annual Showcase next Monday and Tuesday.
All 12 MHL teams will be in Pictou County for the two-day event, with each team playing two games that will count towards the regular season standings. The Crushers will get their first look at the Grand Falls Rapid (formerly the Woodstock Slammers) on Monday at 7 p.m. and Tuesday sees them play the Summerside Western Capitals, also at 7 p.m.
