The win-loss column wasn’t the only focus for Okanagan Hockey Acadmey Elite 15 coach Craig Bedard last weekend.
“I thought the goal of the showcase at the beginning of the year and in any of our games is to get better each and every game,” said Bedard of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League Showcase Penticton hosted. “I thought at the end of the weekend we accomplished that goal.”
They just didn’t accomplish a lot of winning, earning one victory in five games, which isn’t something he liked seeing. The OHA opened with a 6-0 loss to Edge School from Calgary on Sept. 24. The next loss was 5-2 to Pacific Coast Sea Devils from Victoria, then a 4-1 loss to Delta and a narrow loss to the Burnaby Winter Club 3-2. Connor Bouchard set up Matthew Byrne for a 2-1 overtime win against Yale Hockey Academy at 4:13 of the extra frame on Sept. 27. Cairo Rogers scored the other OHA goal, while Brandon Peacock made 27 saves.
“Each and every game we have a hard working group. They compete hard,” he said. “I thought our structure got a lot better throughout the weekend. I thought we had the opportunity to win a couple more hockey games as we went along. It was a learning process. We got a group that cares about what they are doing. They want to learn.”
Bedard said this season in the league every game will be competitive. There isn’t a team they can go in thinking they just have to show up. Being at the top of their game is key while being mentally and physically ready to go.
“It’s an exciting league that way. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day,” he said.
This weekend OHA travels to Lake Country to take on the Pursuit of Excellence at the Winfield Arena.
“They will be another very competitive hockey team that we need to be on top of our game to play against,” said Bedard. “We normally have good hockey games against Pursuit.”