Playing your best in spurts does not guarantee success.
Sometimes it enables you to dodge bullets; sometimes it doesn’t.
Well, the Truro Bearcats saw both sides of that game last weekend.
Last Saturday, at home to the Pictou County Crushers, the Bearcats had a great first period, then hung on the rest of the way.
The Bearcats didn’t give the Crushers much but the goalie was key. Timely stops nullified the fact the Bearcats were being outplayed.
Once into OT, anything can happen. Truro got the goal. The Bearcats take the win.
Sunday, in Berwick, the Bearcats were unable to fend off the Valley Wildcat tenacity. That team well deserved the shutout win over Truro.
Except for the last ten minutes of the first period, the Bearcats were in trouble. A goal, called back, set the tone.
In sport you can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you react to it. Truro’s reaction did not enhance its ability to compete.
The Bearcats had picked up points in ten consecutive games. That feat ended with the loss to the Wildcats. So, too, did the share of Second Place.
Mentally, the team was not in a good area. Saturday, the Bearcats had eleven first period shots, then followed with four and four respectively.
Sunday, the Bearcats had twenty-three first period shots, then three and six the rest of the way. Sometimes shot count speaks volumes.
So, the Bearcats enter this week looking to re-charge the batteries and focus on what helps them to achieve. It’s about team details.
Injuries have taken its toll; however, that happens by times to all teams and you work through it. This creates opportunities, but players have to take advantage of it.
Tonight the Bearcats are off to Amherst to face the Ramblers (7:00 pm). They’ve split two meetings, each winning by a sizable margin.
There will be no pleasantries exchanged in this one. There were plenty of fireworks in the last outing.
The Bearcats don’t play at home until Friday, November 17th .