Boudreau upset with IceDogs
Andrei Loshko scored twice this weekend as the Niagara IceDogs dropped a pair of games in Michigan. Photo: OHL IMAGES.
The Niagara IceDogs came up empty this weekend and head coach Ben Boudreau was not one bit happy about it.
The IceDogs dropped a 6-3 decision at Saginaw Sunday less than 24 hours after losing 4-1 at Flint which put an end to the team’s seven-game winning streak.
“Everyone was talking about 7-0-1 and first-place IceDogs and all the good stuff and it completely went to our heads,” Boudreau said. “We were thinking we’re going to score all these goals and they’re going to hand us wins but we got completely outworked, outplayed and we got exactly what we deserved, to be honest, this weekend.
“There’s no other way to say it. Both of the other teams were better than us in almost every category.”
The IceDogs came into the weekend leading the Ontario Hockey League in offence, but netted only four combined goals in the two losses.
“We’re defending for three quarters of the game, we have no energy to score an offensive goal,” Boudreau said. “We gave up almost 60 shots yet again. I would like our group to care as much defensively as they do offensively because it’s not a way to sustain a winning culture.
“We’re one of the highest scoring teams in the league. We’re also one of the worst defensive teams in the entire league with two of the best goalies and so our group, as much as they buy in offensively, we don’t have that buy-in defensively. We’re at the halfway mark of our season, we’re a high-scoring team, but we’re in almost every single game very tightly because we give up goals and it’s not a way to sustain success here for long term.”
Boudreau said it is back to the drawing board Monday at practice.
“Our job as coaches is to suck the fun out of the game and find a way to clamp it down,” he said. “We have to get back to the video. We have to get on the ice tomorrow and hopefully find a way to get this negativity out of the dressing room. And that starts with me.”
Andrei Loshko, Ryan Roobroeck and Mike Levin scored Sunday.
Charlie Robertson faced a whopping 55 shots in goal and made several key stops to keep the IceDogs in the game.
Loshko netted the lone Niagara goal Saturday at Flint.
Grimsby’s Nate Day made 25 saves for the win while ex-IceDog Urban Podrekar netted the winning goal.
Owen Flores faced 30 shots in goal for the IceDogs and was tagged with the loss.
The IceDogs back home to play the Peterborough Petes Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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