The Moose Jaw Generals closed out the preseason on a high note this weekend with a pair of wins over the Notre Dame Hounds.
Moose Jaw skated to a 6-0 shutout win over the Hounds on Saturday in Wilcox and then continued their strong play on Sunday by beating them 4-2 at Mosaic Place.
The Generals finished the exhibition schedule with a 4-1-0 record and head coach Ray Wareham felt that they got stronger as the games went on.
"I thought the first three games were very average, I don't if it was because we had so many guys coming back that thought it would be easy, so we really stressed in practice this week that we really need to bear down… and I thought we finished the weekend off by playing our two best games of the preseason so that's a good sign heading into the regular season," said Generals head coach Ray Wareham.
One thing that the Generals have shown throughout the preseason is an ability to score.
In Sunday's win, the Generals were tied at 1-1 with the Hounds after the first period, but Jake Palmer and Skyler Sangster scored back-to-back goals only 1:06 apart and both were great shots off the cross-bar and down.
Wareham said they're confident that they will have the offence to skate with any team.
"Our top-nine, all those guys are back and we're missing (Jaxon Georget) and Connor Giebel isn't in the lineup here either, so hopefully those guys coming back make us stronger," said Wareham. "We do think our depth is up front, if our D just simplify things like they did this weekend and we get goaltending like we do this weekend, we'll be fine."
Evan Sare had two goals, while Brendan Kemp and Cody Davis picked up a goal and two points each in Saturday’s win over the Hounds at the Duncan McNeill Arena. Casey McDonald picked up two helpers as well in that game, while Ben Peterson and Skyler Sangster added the other goals.
Goalie Jaxson Taupert turned away all 25 shots he faced to backstop Moose Jaw to the victory.
On Sunday, Kemp picked up his second goal of the weekend in the first period; Sangster and Palmer scored in the second; Steven Kesslering found the back of the net to seal the win in the third.
Taupert allowed two goals on 20 shots over the first two periods, while Reece Hodson stopped all 11 shots that he faced in the third for Moose Jaw.
The Generals will open the regular season with five straight road games and with that tough test to start things off, Wareham said these two solid games were just what they wanted going into the regular season.
"I thought the guys did a fantastic job," said Wareham. "Work ethic this weekend was good; the other thing we talked about was just having a purpose out there, executing and discipline. It was a good effort and good weekend going into a week of practice to get ready for (Prince Albert)."
Moose Jaw gets the regular season on Saturday against the Mintos in Prince Albert and then they head to Beardy's on Sunday to take on the Blackhawks.