The Parkland Rangers learned a valuable lesson in a 5-4 loss to the Pembina Valley Hawks, Saturday in Dauphin.
The two teams traded goals through the first 40 minutes and the Rangers pressed for the equalizer in the final frame, but could not bury their chances.
Noting the Hawks are committed to defence, Rangers head coach Rick Freese said his team has to play the same way.
“For us to win against a team like that, we’ve got to keep it to two or less and we’ve got to be committed to D. And we had moments tonight where we weren’t committed to D,” he said.
Freese said the Rangers have the fire power to compete with any team in the league, but it is the commitment to defence that the teams needs to work on to compete with the best teams in the league.
“Our game is not fire fighting. We don’t want to be in a fire fight. We want to be in a defensively sound game. We don’t want to handcuff guys offensively. But if we’re going to cheat, we’ve got to cheat on the D-side every time. We can’t be cheating on the O-side,” he said.
Pembina Valley took advantage of some breaks, which led to goals. But with four goals on the board, Freese feels that should be enough to win games.
“There’s no reason we shouldn’t have won that game, 4-1. They didn’t get anything that we didn’t give them to a certain extent. They’re a hard working team, no doubt. And they put pucks to the net and they’re physical down low, but so are we,” he said.
“It’s like playing ourselves, almost a mirror image. We just have to be a little more committed to D.”
Freese is looking for a better defensive effort when they host the Yellowhead Chiefs, Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.
“We’ve got some of the best fire power in the league. But when you score four goals, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t win the game. If you can hold a team to two or less and be committed to D, there’s no reason, with four goals, you shouldn’t win.”
Freese feels the players have to learn to trust in their teammates and not try to do too much on the ice.
“So when we retreat, we have to make sure, we have to have it behind us that our teammate is doing their job, too. I think that’s the biggest thing, for sure,” he said.
Parkland’s only game this weekend is Friday, when they host the Interlake Lightning at 7:30 p.m.
