TRURO – Sometimes it’s important to have a short memory in hockey.
Now is one of those times.
The Truro Bearcats are looking to regain the lead in their Bent Division semifinal against the Bridgewater Lumberjacks tonight after the Lumberjacks knotted the series 1-1 Tuesday with a 3-1 victory in Bridgewater.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Colchester Legion Stadium and the Bearcats are happy to get right back at it.
“Yeah, we’ve got to put this one behind us,” said Bearcats forward Chris Ivanko after Tuesday’s loss. “We want to come back tomorrow and take advantage of our home rink and take the lead in this series.”
Bearcats coach Shawn Evans gave the Lumberjacks full credit for tying the best-of-seven set.
“The home team deserved to win,” he said.
“They won the races to the puck and did what was necessary to get the job done. We need to play harder and better than we did (last night).”
The Bearcats knew they would be in for a battle on a small ice surface against a team that has improved all season and the Lumberjacks proved them right.
“If we didn’t then they definitely put us on notice (last night),” Evans said.
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Mike Snow scored on the powerplay at 16:34. Shawn Frank made it 2-0 at the 16-minute mark of the second period and Snow netted his second of the game 21 seconds into the third to make it 3-0.
Jordan Mock was the lone Truro goalscorer, breaking Phillip Wright’s shutout at 17:32 of the third.
“Obviously, we didn’t play well enough,” Evans said. “We got desperate at the end of the game but when it takes you 56 minutes to get a point on the scoreboard it makes life tough.”
Wright claimed the win with 29 saves while Richard Gagnon stopped 24 in the Truro net.
Ivanko said he feels the Bearcats can use Tuesday’s setback as a lesson to improve their game.
“We haven’t faced a lot of adversity this year so this really makes us realize what it takes to win games,” he said. “We have to play 60 minutes because they’re a good team and we respect them and they outworked us.
“Obviously we have talent but we didn’t work hard and they did.”
Evans will make a decision today on who will start in the Truro net tonight. Gagnon has started both games for Truro in the series.
But the coach added his team knows what it has to do to win.
“We didn’t do it (last night),” he said. “We need to do it (tonight).”
sports@trurodaily.com
