After winning the first two games pretty convincingly, the Castors faced a little more adversity against the Volant last weekend. The game in Clarence Creek on Saturday went down to the wire, with both teams scoring four goals during regulation and the Castors finally burying the game-winner in the second period of overtime to take a 3-0 lead in the series. The next game was more one-sided, and the Volant managed to take game four at home by out-scoring the visiting team 4-1.
After winning eleven straight games to end their season and sweeping the Metcalfe Jets in the first round, it seems like the Castors are finally facing some resistance in the second round of the playoffs.
However, Castors’ Head Coach Tim Kosch is not surprised with the Volant’s performance last weekend: “This is the team we were expecting to play against” said Kosch, “It was do or die for them, and they played with that desperation. They played really solid defensively, and they were the better team on Sunday.”
But Coach Kosch believes his team will be able to learn from the loss and take it as an opportunity to build character: “In a way, I see it as a good loss. I see it as a learning opportunity. With the success we’ve been having this season, it’s good to realize that we can’t just coast our way to victory. If we take our foot off the gas, we can lose games in this league. We just need to stay composed and stick to our system, which is the whole reason for our success this year.”
Looking back on the nail-biter that was game three in Clarence Creek, Coach Kosch sees it as a template for the way his team needs to respond to adversity going forward: “It was a really good game for us. Gatineau really stepped up their game and put pressure on us from the opening face-off. But we showed a lot of character, and we came back from behind multiple times in that game to finally win in the second period of overtime.”
The Castors will try to end the series on Thursday, as they face-off against the Volant for game five at the Clarence Creek Recreation Centre.
