A couple of one-goal losses aren’t going to have the Nanaimo Clippers crumpling up the game plan and starting over.
The city’s B.C. Hockey League team (6-6-0-1) plays two more home games this Friday (Oct. 26) and Saturday at Frank Crane Arena, hosting the Cowichan Valley Capitals and then the Powell River Kings.
Nanaimo is coming off a weekend in which it lost 5-4 to the Chilliwack Chiefs and 3-2 to the Victoria Grizzlies.
Trevor Fitzgerald, Clippers captain, said he and his teammates played with effort and desire, but put themselves in a position where a few bad bounces cost them.
“We kind of left it up to chance,” he said. “Good teams find a way to win and we’ve got to start doing that again.”
This week at practice, he said, the team was intending to get back to fundamentals.
“Making passes on the tape all the time, good dumps all the time, finishing your check all the time, all the little things that you can do,” Fitzgerald said. “The better you are at those, the easier the games are going to be.”
The Clippers have been talking about preparation and focus.
Michael McNicholas, Clippers forward, said his team might have been cocky coming off the previous weekend’s win over the first-placed Penticton Vees.
“We definitely have to stay more humble and more focused for each game coming up,” he said.
The Clippers beat the Capitals earlier this season, and are expecting a hard-working team to come to Frank Crane Arena.
“I think the effort’s going to be a deciding factor in that game,” said Fitzgerald. “So if our effort’s better than theirs, we’re going to have a good chance to beat them.”
GAME ON … The Clips and Caps face off Friday (Oct. 26) at 7 p.m. The Powell River Kings are in town the next night for another 7 p.m. game.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com