September 12, 2017 | Sports
After starting the season out with a loss to the André-Laurendeau Boomerang, the Dawson Blues Men’s Hockey team was looking to get a win in their home opener. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as they lost 5-0 against the visiting Jeannois du Collège d’Alma.
The score; however, does not do justice to how the Blues played. They were outshot 29-21, but the time on attack was nearly even throughout the game. Even though the Blues did not score, they had plenty of opportunities to put one behind the Alma goalie, as they hit a number of posts.
The first period was quite the back-and-forth affair, with no one managing to score a goal until nearly the end when Alma got one by Dawson goalie, Eric Faille. In the second period, Alma got a goal early to put them ahead by two. They then scored another goal late to take control of the game. In the third period, the Blues did their best to try to get onto the scoreboard but were unable to do it. Midway through the period, Alma scored two quick goals to put the game away.
Despite the lopsided score, there were some positives for Dawson to take from the game. One thing that was very successful was their penalty kill. They took three penalties during the game and were able to hold Alma off the scoresheet during that time, in convincing fashion.
To improve going forward, Dawson will have to work on their neutral zone play. They had too many turnovers in that area of the ice and they had some difficulties breaking into the offensive zone. They also need to take more shots from high percentage locations. Many of the shots came from around the perimeter and did not have much of a chance of going in.
Hopefully, they will be able to improve on these areas of their game going forward into their next game on Friday in Sainte-Foy. The next home game will be Saturday, September 23 against the Lions de CEGEP Champlain St. Lawrence.
Even though this is not the start that the Blues were looking to get this season, they still have plenty of time to try to battle back and compete for a championship.