IceDogs hit “rock bottom”
Niagara IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau felt his team bottomed out with a 6-0 loss at Brampton Monday. Photo: OHL IMAGES.
The Niagara IceDogs’ free fall continued Monday as they dropped a 6-0 decision at Brampton for their eighth loss in a row.
“I think for us that was rock bottom on the season,” IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau said. “You just kind of saw our team give up for whatever reason. That’s eight games in a row and that’s a lot of time at the rink when things aren’t going well.”
The IceDogs have games at Ottawa Friday and Kingston Saturday afternoon and Boudreau is hopefull some time away together may turn things around.
“I’m hoping for the silver lining that that’s the worst of the worst,” he said. “We go on a road trip and (we hope) not only to rediscover our love for the game and playing for this team and remember the good times that we’ve had so far, but the love for one another here too, becoming a team again.
“I think we need to get out on the road and I’m hoping it’s a really good experience for us.”
Boudreau still feels confident a win or two could get the team back on track.
“Winning is like a miracle drug that solves a lot of problems,” he said. “At the end of the day, no matter how it comes, you have to find a way to get it done. We’re still a good hockey team. If we can win, we can look at it over the course of the 68-game season and not just 10-game stretches. We started great. We had a 7-0-1 stretch and we’re 5-16 after Christmas or something like that so it’s a really bad stretch.
“We hope to span this thing out over the course of a 68-game season and look back and remember what our common goal was at the start of the year and that’s making playoffs and we’re still in a position to do that with 15 games to go. It’s time to buckle up and quit feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Boudreau has his fingers crossed forwards Ryan Roobroeck, Alex Assadourian and Mathieu Paris will be back from injury this weekend.
Goaltender Owen Flores, who left Sunday’s game with a leg injury and did not dress Monday, is expected to be out for the next few weeks but is expected back at some point this season.
“Flores is gonna be on the shelf for a little bit,” Boudreau said. “I don’t think there’s a timeline. It’s nothing that we’re stressing about if we do make the playoffs, whether we will have him or not. We don’t foresee Flores playing in February or in early March. I believe (we’re) just making sure that we have a healthy Owen Flores come playoff time.”
That means rookie goaltender Matthew Humphries will get his baptism of fire for the next several games.
Boudreau felt Humphries more than held his own in Monday’s loss.
“We talked about the silver lining, I thought Humphreys, even though he let in six goals, was spectacular in stretches,” Boudreau said. “I just think he needs more of a committed team in front of him to help him out.”
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