The Squamish Wolf Pack missed their target of winning two of their last three Pacific International Junior Hockey League (PIJHL) games, dropping two home games and one road campaign this week.The series of losses brings their league record to one win and eight losses and pushes the Pack more firmly into last place in the Tom Shaw Conference. Coach and general manager Matt Samson said his team is not yet playing to its potential."The record we have is not indicative of the talent of some of the guys that we have but unfortunately it has to start showing in the win column," he said. "We're trying to keep them positive but at the same time we can't keep making the same mistakes as far as taking penalties and falling asleep for two or three minutes at a time. If you do that in this league teams are good enough to put the puck in the net."The Wolf Pack split two home games between Whistler and Squamish on Friday and Saturday nights (Oct. 3 to 4). In front of a big Whistler crowd of about 450 people, the Pack took a bunch of early penalties and fell into a 3-0 hole against the North Delta Devils. Squamish battled back to make the score 4-2 in the third period, but on a five-on-three power play, the Pack ripped a shot off the post and the Devils counter-attacked to score a shorthanded closer. Merely outshooting the Devils 15-3 with no goals to show for it wasn't enough.Samson said inconsistency is a serious problem."We're not catching breaks consistently and we're not playing for 60 minutes consistently," he said.The Wolf Pack returned to Brennan Park Arena on Saturday (Oct. 4) to take on the Harold Brittain Conference-leading Aldergrove Kodiaks. This time the Pack pounced early to build a 2-1 lead going into the third period with goals from Hunter Nelson and Mike Shain.But the Kodiaks took advantage of a suddenly sluggish Squamish squad, scoring four third period goals to win the game 5-2. "We didn't come out and execute in the third period," said Samson. "We gave up an early goal which is something we said we couldn't do, and then we took a very stupid penalty shortly after that." Backup goaltender Brett Miller played well in his first home start, saving 39 of 44 shots. Squamish needs to start scoring more goals and give their goalies a break, said Samson."We're not scoring [] we're averaging two goals a game, which is terrible," he said.Having captain Cole Nelson and Ross Pattison out with injuries didn't help matters, but Nelson was expected back in the lineup against the Delta Hawks on Tuesday (Oct. 7) and Pattison is expected to return in the next week. The Hawks shut out the Wolf Pack 3-0. Squamish plays the Ridge Meadows Flames at Brennan Park Arena on Saturday (Oct. 11). Puck drops at 7:15 p.m.
