LAVAL | The Rocket certainly had a frustrating last week, suffering three losses in games that all required overtime.
• Also read: Olivier Galipeau leaves his mark
The Laval residents initially lost in overtime to the Americans 4-3 and 3-2 in Rochester on Wednesday and Friday. Then on Saturday they lost 4-3 to the Syracuse Crunch in a game that ended in a shootout.
“We have to find a way to win. We played well, but not good enough,” said assistant coach Kelly Buchberger after the team’s practice at Place Bell on Monday.
“Of course it’s a little disappointing, we wanted to get as many points as possible. Three out of six is not that bad, but I think we deserved a better result,” said defender Olivier Galipeau, who collected four assists in those three games.
“It’s pretty frustrating to lose these three games because we fought for the win every time and only scored one goal in the end,” Riley Kidney added.
Progress
Galipeau, a 26-year-old veteran in his third year with the Rockets, believes there is something positive to be taken from these encounters despite the three losses.
“We are making progress,” he assures. We’ve struggled to play a good 60 minutes since the start of the year and that’s cost us games.
“To put in a consistent effort for 60 minutes, even though it’s away and these are difficult games, that’s a big step forward.”
The team was also able to give their goalkeepers some breathing room by limiting the number of goals allowed, something that had been a mistake all too often in the last fifteen meetings.
Development
The head coach Jean-François Houle has a lot. At the start of the season, it was mentioned that the team’s initial task was to develop the many young players entrusted to it by the Montreal Canadiens.
But he also said that the victory was a good opportunity to develop young people.
“We want to win as much as possible, even if our main mission is to develop players.
“We believe that victories mean the development of young people and victories help us move forward.”