Cougars focused despite slow start

Despite graduating several key offensive contributors from last year’s club, Lamb doesn’t believe the team’s identity has changed.

“I don’t think our identity has changed from last year,” he said. “I still think we’re a hard team to play against.”

The Cougars’ offensive numbers have dipped compared to last season, but Lamb says the root of the problem starts away from the puck.

“Our problem right now is we’re not scoring enough goals, and that’s a byproduct of not being very good away from the puck,” he said.

Veteran forward Lee Shurgot echoed his coach’s message, saying the mood in the dressing room remains positive despite the challenging start.

“I think we’ve been playing really good hockey,” said Shurgot. “We want to take what’s good and keep building on that. We don’t want to get too negative and we want to focus on the positives.”

Shurgot, one of the team’s leaders, says perspective is important during the long grind of a WHL season.

“It’s a long season,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re going to lose games. Skids are going to happen. You just want to stay positive and keep upbeat.”

The veteran forward believes going through adversity early in the year could ultimately strengthen the group.

“It’s good that it’s happening early. We can learn from it,” said Shurgot. “There’s a lot to learn from.”

Lamb feels the same way. While nobody enjoys losing, he believes the current struggles could help the team identify weaknesses and build stronger habits moving forward.

“Ours is at the start right now,” said Lamb. “Could that be good? Yeah, maybe it could be real good. We really get it figured out, get people in the right spots and go on a roll.”

With a young season still ahead and confidence remaining high inside the room, the Cougars are focused on staying patient, cleaning up costly mistakes, and turning encouraging stretches of play into much-needed points in the standings.

by Stephen Lewyta

Cougars focused despite slow start

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