Another Rebound Situation for Generals

The Eugene Generals (10-7) will travel to Bremerton, WA tomorrow to face the Puget Sound Tomahawks (9-8) this Friday and Saturday at 7:30. The Generals will try to rebound, once again, after another loss that was determined by one goal. The Generals are now 8-3 at home, and a disappointing 2-4 away. The Generals stand alone in third place in the NOR PAC Pacific Division standings, and will try to widen the gap between themselves and the fourth place Tomahawks who only trail the Generals by two points.

“We’ve got to get it going early, and keep up our energy for the entire game,” Generals Head Coach Chris Hartly stated. “We get in trouble when we think we can come back from games, or when we take it easy after getting a lead. With the new rule emphasis no lead is safe. You have to keep putting up points for the entire game because anything can happen.”

The Generals fell victim to the Seattle Totems after taking a 4-3 lead into the third period last Saturday at home after easily handling the Totems 8-3 the night before. The games last weekend have symbolized the Generals thus far into the season. The Generals have looked almost unstoppable in some games, but have looked very vulnerable in others. The Generals are now merely three games over .500, and will have to fix the roller coaster effect if they want to be serious contenders for the Cascade Cup. The Generals have a great opportunity to gain momentum in the next nine games of the season, but they have to start this weekend in Puget Sound.

After this weekend the Generals will have five games at home. The Generals will face the Tri-City Titans (5-13) to kick off the five game home stand, and then will get a chance to redeem their loss against the Seattle Totems (13-5) when they travel to Eugene for two. The Generals will then face the River City Jaguars (1-15) for the final game of the home stand. The Generals will then travel to Beaverton, OR to face the Jaguars for two more. This stretch of games will give a much more definitive picture of where the Generals fit in the Pacific Division.

With a combined opponent record of 28-41 over the next nine games the Generals have the potential to gain an enormous amount of ground in that period of time. The first place (tied with Seattle Totems with 26 points) Fort Vancouver Pioneers (13-3) has the same opponent record over their next nine games, but seven of their nine games are on the road. The Totems will play every team in the division (combined record of 38-46), but have a few more obstacles. The Totems start off this weekend with the Pioneers at home, but they will travel to River City, Eugene, and Puget Sound in the following weeks. They will then have a home game against the Tri-City Titans for their ninth game. In six of the nine games they will face a team with a winning record, and all of which have defeated the Totems at least once this season.

The Generals will, however, first and foremost, worry about this weekend’s games, and more specifically worry about the game tomorrow night. In their first, and only, trip to Puget Sound this season the Generals were defeated by the Tomahawks 4-3 in overtime. The Generals have gone on to win their next two games against Puget Sound by a combined score of 20-7, but that score doesn’t take away the two points the Tomahawks earned in their first meeting of the season. The Generals definitely have the talent to come away with four points this weekend, but it will be interesting to see if they can win if the games are decided by one goal. The Generals are now 1-5 in one goal games, and their only win came against a struggling Tri-City team. The Generals will have to get out to an early lead against Puget Sound, and if they don’t they will have to give everything they have to make sure they don’t fall victim to the same fate that befell them in their first game at Puget Sound.

The games this Friday and Saturday against Puget Sound will be at Bremerton Ice Arena in Bremerton, WA at 7:30. The games will be broadcast on GiTV in audio only. For more information on upcoming games or GiTV please visit eugenegenerals.com.

For more information:
Chris Bilder, Public Relations/Marketing, Eugene Generals
541-359-4154 (office)
541-680-6222 (cell)