T-Birds Take Their Okanagan Medicine

South Island Thunderbirds, November 08, 2009

What are you going to do?  Like it or not, sometimes you just have to take what comes your way.

After putting up a very valiant fight on Saturday afternoon against a very solid Okanagan Rockets squad, the undermanned South Island Thunderbirds were not able to re-stoke that competitive fire from the opening face-off on Sunday morning.  The Rockets unleashed a relentless attack and barrage of shots in the first period in building an insurmountable five goal margin and then cruised the rest of the way in a 7 – 0 shutout.

“The Rockets had us chasing them all around our zone in the first period” said South Island Head Coach Rob Milliken.  “We were overmatched right from the start by a superior team today.”

After that blowout first period, in which Okanagan outshot South Island by a whopping 30 – 8 margin, the Thunderbirds did regroup and play much better and the shots evened out over the final two frames (19 – 18).  The Birds had a number of scoring chances, including a couple of breakaways and backdoor opportunities, but could not get one past Rockets’ netminder Conor Barrie.  Nic Renyard was busy again in goal for the visitors and stood up well to a grueling weekend test, facing a total of 96 shots over the two games.

It was the fourth time this season that the Thunderbirds have failed to score.  It was also the 16^th straight game in which the Birds’ were unable to dress a full 20 man roster.  That streak is not likely to be broken until at least mid-December as the team battles through a series of injuries and the flu bug that kept six players out of uniform this weekend.  With no new injuries to report from this trip, there should be fewer missing in action in the games ahead.

The pair of losses this weekend drops the T-Birds down to 9^th place in the BCMML standings with a record of 4 – 11 – 1.  The team is now 9 points behind the 6^th place Vancouver Canadians, who hold that final playoff position.  The Rockets move up to second place with a 10 – 3 – 1 record, trailing the 1^st place Cariboo Cougars by three points but with two games in hand.

The Thunderbirds will play at home for the next two weekends, as the 10^th place Thompson Blazers (2 – 12 – 0) come to town on November 14^th (5:20 at UVic’s Ian Stewart Complex) and 15^th (9:30 AM at Panorama Rec Centre) and then the Cougars follow on November 21 and 22.  Those games will bring the South Island team to the season’s mid-point in the 40-game regular season schedule.

Mom always said there would be times like this.  She also said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!  On that basis, there should be better times ahead.