Teluscup wed

Discipline sunk the Moose Jaw Generals on Wednesday night at the Telus Cup and has pushed them into a do or die situation for the rest of the 2014 midget national championship.

Dawson Davidson gave the Generals another early lead just under three minutes into the game.  After that though, Moose Jaw started a parade to the penalty box that killed their momentum and allowed the Toronto Young Nationals to take control on their way to a 4-2 win over the host team.

“It was just very, very undisciplined, the first two penalties we took were awful and I don’t care who you play, you’re not going to win if you take those kind of penalties,” stated Generals head coach Ray Warheam after the game.

The Generals ended up giving Toronto six power play opportunities and they capitalized on four of them for the win.  

Regan Nagy went to the box three times and seemed to be struggling with the line between physical play and undisciplined play.

“It’s hard, they’re going to call a tight game, especially in this type of tournament and I like to play physical, so it’s hard to stay on the good side of things,” said Nagy after the loss.  “I’ll probably have to change (my play) over the next couple of games because you can’t take any penalties and that’s what brought us down in the game.”

"He's an emotional guy, he plays with a lot of passion and heart and desire, but you've got to be able to channel it the right way and it maybe slipped a little bit on him (in this game)," said Wareham.  "(Tuesday) I thought he was arguably the best player on the ice, but today we didn't see that and it got away from him a bit, but that's all of us, not just him."

Davidson scored both goals for Moose Jaw in the loss and now five of the team’s seven goals in the tournament have come from defencemen.  Wareham said they need more out of the forward group going forward.

“To be honest, I’m a little disappointed in our top two lines,” he said.  “I thought our third line and then our fourth line were our two best lines and those guys are playing well for us, but if our so-called scoring lines aren’t going for us — we’re in a national championship, these teams are good — you're not going to win.”

Marco Bozzo was the hero for the Young Nationals on the night, scoring three goals, including a dagger on the power play with just 15 seconds left to seal the win.

“It’s huge, coming off a win (Tuesday) and the momentum carried us,” said Bozzo.  “With this win, we’re feeling pretty good about the rest of the week and just to solidify a spot on the weekend, that’s what we’re trying to do the rest of the way.”

Jeremy Pullara added the other goal for Toronto, while Steven Harland assisted on all three of Bozzo's goals.

Toronto is in a good position to do clinch a spot in the semifinals on Saturday as they sit in first place after two days with a 2-1-0 record.

“We can’t let our guard down and we’ve just got to fight like it’s a regular other game,” said Bozzo.

The Generals have their work cut out for them now as they currently sit in fifth place with a 0-1-2 record, which has them one point behind Okanagan for the final semifinal spot.

“We’ve got to win out,” said Wareham.  “It’s a big game (Thursday) night, big game, we need to bring our A game for sure.”

The road won’t be easy for the Generals over the final two games, having to go against the Prince Albert Mintos on Thursday and then the Chateauguay Grenadiers to end the round robin on Friday.  If there’s one benefit, it’s that the Generals know the Mintos and have had success against them this season.

“Emotions are going to be huge (against the Mintos), they brought a pretty big following with them, so we’re expecting a pretty big crowd,” said Wareham.  “We are pretty familiar with each other, pretty similar styles and we’ve got a lot of respect for them and I’m sure they do for us, so we’re looking for a good battle.”

The Genearls and Mintos hit the ice at 7:30pm on Thursday night.  Toronto is back in action against Chateauguay at 4:00pm.  The early game has the Okanagan Rockets going against the Halifax McDonalds at 12:00pm.

In the early action Wednesday, the Grenadiers laid a beating on the Macs, knocking them off 7-3.  Okanagan and Prince Albert skated to a 3-3 tie.