The two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey.
Statistics suggest the team with that lead squanders that lead forty percent of the time. The cliché may be true.
The Bearcats had a good game going against the Ramblers Friday, before it wasn’t. Up two going into the third – bang – Amherst scores and the bottom comes out.
It wasn’t pleasant to see the Ramblers go on to win it in OT, out shooting (16 – 3) and outchancing the Bearcats in the third in a game of such importance.
Saturday, the Bearcats had a two-goal lead going into the third against the top team in the Division. Was this to be déjà vu all over again?
Not this time. The Bearcats upped their game in that final period, outscoring the Lumberjacks and putting the lid on one of the team’s best sixty minute efforts of the season on home ice.
South Shore’s strength all season has been its powerplay. Truro stayed out of the box and beat them 5-on-5.
A different night, a different ending and a different Bearcat team which may just be on the verge of learning to win.
There is a whole lot of room for improvement, but Saturday’s game showed local fans that when all Bearcats are on deck, good things can happen.
The December 1 st deadline to reduce playing cards to twenty-five has passed. Play movements had two players released and two players acquired – a defenceman (20) and a forward (18).
The acquisitions may help move the team a step further in getting better. The real growth must be by those remaining, who have been with the team since closure of Training Camp.
The next significant date is January 10, when rosters are reduced to twenty-three, then frozen for the balance of the season. Players want to be in that number.
The Bearcats enter the week in fifth spot, three points out of foutth. That team is the Pictou County Crushers, and that’s the team the Bearcats host at the RECC this Saturday (7:00 pm).
That’s enough motivation necessary to cause a team to bring the best they have. It’s getting close to crunch time – time to step up.
See you at the RECC – Saturday – 7:00 pm.