Make hay while the sun shines, they say. For the Halifax Mooseheads, the sun doesn’t shine much brighter than when the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are in town.
The Huskies, who visit the Metro Centre tonight and Friday at 7 p.m., are riding a 12-game losing streak and have lost 19 of 23 outings this season.
It’s a rare occasion on which the Mooseheads are actually favoured on paper. They have three more wins, five more points and sit just one spot ahead of the Huskies in the overall standings.
“We have to win games like these … against teams that are lower than us in the standings,” said Mooseheads centre Brent Andrews. “These games are a good opportunity at home to get some points, move up in the standings and get some confidence going.”
But given that the Mooseheads are currently basement dwellers themselves, that works both ways. The Huskies, who haven’t won a game since Oct. 9, are no doubt growing restless to end their dismal five-week streak.
Mooseheads head coach Bobby Smith emphasized the importance of not looking past the Huskies.
“We know they’re going to come in looking at Halifax, saying, ‘Here’s a chance for us to pick up some points,’” Smith said. “We have to be ready to put our best game out there.”
The Mooseheads have lost five of their past six games and haven’t played particularly well, at least not consistently.
Untimely letdowns, and an inability to bounce back from them, have led, more often than not, to losses.
“We’ve got to play consistently throughout the whole game — that’s going to be big,” Andrews said. “We can’t take a shift off and let teams capitalize on opportunities and put us behind the 8-ball early.”
