Before they sit down for their Thanksgiving dinners, the Nanaimo Clippers would love to beat the stuffing out of one more opponent.
The Clippers (4-3) play just one game this weekend, Sunday (Oct. 7) at Frank Crane Arena against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (1-4-0-1).
The Shipmen have already defeated the Gorillas once this season, but the ’Backs have undergone a coaching change since then and might be a different team this time around.
“We’re not really sure what to expect, but it doesn’t really matter what the team is, we come out with the same mindset in every game,” said Josh Bryan, Clippers defenceman.
One aspect of the game plan that never wavers is Nanaimo’s commitment to physical play. Even though the Clips seem to keep getting called for boarding, hits from behind and hits to the head, they won’t tone things down.
“They’re calling it pretty tight. We’re not going to change the way we play…” said Greg Fraser, Clippers forward. “Those are penalties we should probably kill off.”
Bryan had the same view, saying it’s the stick infractions that seem to be the harder penalties to kill off.
“If someone has a big hit on someone and we get a two-minute penalty for it, we have to be ready to kill that,” he said. “We’ve got to work on our penalty killing because we’re not going to change that side of our game. We want to be a big, intimidating team.”
GAME ON … The Clippers and Silverbacks play Sunday (Oct. 7) in a 3 p.m. faceoff at Frank Crane Arena … The contest is the first of seven home games this month for Nanaimo. For ticket information, please visit www.nanaimoclippers.com or phone 250-751-0593.
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