After enjoying a nice streak of success the Bobcats have now lost two in row by one goal. The Calgary Mustangs came in to Centennial Civic Centre on Saturday night and handed the Bobcats a 4-3 defeat, stealing two points from the home team. The loss gives the Bobcats their second loss in as many home games.
After having their streak of gaining at least a point snapped at 7 games on Thursday night against rivals Bonnyville, the Bobcats were looking to rebound and start November off fresh against the Calgary Mustangs. Despite the setback two days ago the Bobcats still occupied 4th place in the North Division, and only a point out of 3rd, with a record of 12-8-1 on the year. Meanwhile the Calgary Mustangs have skated to a 8-9-2 record thus far and sit in 5th place in the South Division.
It would be a start to forget for the Bobcats as only 19 seconds in Jamie King of the Calgary Mustangs scored on their second shot of the game. It didn’t get much better after that, a costly turnover in the Bobcats zone ended up in the back of their nets, as Cole Threndyle put the Mustangs ahead 2-0 early. It looked as though the Bobcats would head in to the locker room down two goals with just over a minute to go but the home team would finally strike. Lukas Biensch got the Bobcats on the board, thanks to a helper from Brock Weston. Only 30 seconds later the ‘Cats would pounce again as Patrick Geary got it done all by himself to even up the game at 2-2 after 20 minutes. The Bobcats had awoken with 2 goals in the final 1:05 of the first period.
The Bobcats continued to press at the Calgary Mustangs goalie Jeff Orser, would had spent training camp this earlier this year with the Bobcats. With the Mustangs on the powerplay, Austin Yaremchuk set up Tanner Dunkle beautifully to give the Bobcats their first lead of the game, 3-2 thanks to the shorthanded goal. It looked as though the Bobcats had asserted themselves in the game, but Calgary kept coming back. The Mustangs would tie it up thanks to a goal from Colby Chartier to send this one into the 2nd intermission tied up 3-3.
The home team failed to get much going in the third period, leading to a controversial goal scored by the Calgary Mustangs. The referees converged but the goal stood, credit going to Scott Stalberg for the goal. The chances failed to come tonight, the Bobcats had let one slip away. Final score tonight 4-3.
Coach/GM Garry VanHereweghe wasn’t happy about the team’s overall performance tonight, “These last two games we’re playing as individuals, certainly tried to do things as individuals, and I think mentally we knew we were playing teams behind us in the standings and we thought we could take our foot off the gas. It’s unacceptable, I know that, the players know that we got to figure something out amongst ourselves and get it sorted out.”
The upcoming schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Bobcats, as they hit the road to take on the South Division leading Brooks Bandits on Tuesday, then return home to face the tough Spruce Grove Saints on Friday November 8th.