The Summerland Jets dropped a pair of games, getting shut out twice over the weekend in the franchise’s first-ever pre-season games.
The first game of the weekend saw Summerland play host to the Princeton Posse, last season’s KIJHL runner-up. The game got off to a tough start for the Jets as Posse forward Hudson Hofstrand put the puck past Jets goaltender Sharky Nowek on the fifth shot just 2:27 into the game to give them a 1-0 lead. The Jets got only three shots on goal in the first period and entered the second period trailing.
The Jets had a stronger offensive presence in the second, putting up nine shots compared with Princeton’s 12; however, no goals were scored in the period. The third period was the best period for the Jets, as they were able to sustain some lengthy shifts in the offensive zone, however, they weren’t able to score and the Posse added an empty-net goal to hand the Jets a loss in their first game of the pre-season.
After the loss, Jets head coach Robert Dirk said the team played well but they need to continue to put in the work.
“I was happy with some things and some things. We have a lot of work to do. We had 20 new guys coming together, 19 tonight in a lineup. It’s going to take time. But for the most part, the effort was there. We just got to continue to get better day by day and we gotta learn how to play together. That’s the biggest thing.”
Jets goaltender Sharky Nowek played very well, making 51 saves on 52 shots, and Dirk says goaltending won’t be an issue for the team; they just have to work on getting better defensively and manufacture better scoring chances.
“Sharky’s going to be one of the best, if not the best. So our goaltending is going to be fine. Defensively, yeah, we got to work on some things, but defensively, we’re going to be fine. We need to simplify our game offensively to score goals. I told the guys we need to get more pucks to the net and get to the net. You’re not going to score goals on the perimeter, so we have to learn to get to the middle of the ice and to the net.”
With this game being the first since the devastating Bald Range wildfire that damaged or destroyed around 120 structures in and around Summerland, Dirk says the Jets will be a part of the healing journey for the community.
“For what Summerland as a community has gone through here in the last month is devastating to some people, but if we can be just a little piece of bringing Summerland together as a community, that’s great. Playing a game of hockey is awesome, but if we can, we have a bigger picture. And we are quite aware of it that we need to help heal the community for what it’s gone through and hopefully try to help bring it together.”
In the second game of the weekend, the Jets were also shut out, this time by a score of 5-0 when they travelled to Kamloops to take on the Storm. The first period saw Storm forward Luca D’Amore score the first two goals of the game with Aidan Hicks adding a third to give the Storm a 3-0 lead after the first period. The second saw Aidan Hicks score to add to the Storm’s lead and Kaiden Sydenham capped off the scoring with a minute left to give the Storm a 5-0 shutout victory.
The Jets will be back in action on Sept. 11 when they head to Osoyoos to face the Coyotes before returning home for a rematch against the Storm on Sept. 12 in their final tune-up game before their home opener against the Coyotes on Sept. 18.
