Photo: Tim Austen/Freestyle Photography/OSHC
The Ottawa Black Bears are eager to snap a two-game losing streak on Saturday night when they return home to Canadian Tire Centre. Ottawa enters the game and the second half of their season 4-5.
Head coach Dan MacRae’s message to the team at the end of practice was that every player needs to focus on themselves and what they can bring to the table to get back to .500 on the season.
Forward Reilly O’Connor said that the Black Bears need to be at their best at every facet of the game. “Offence, defence, goaltending, right, not two or three, all three phases,” said O’Connor. “And I think if we do that, we’ve proven, I think, we’re very good. But we’ve got to be consistent in our approach and everyone’s got to be going tonight.”
Calgary enters the game 1-6 but has given tests to Saskatchewan, Toronto, and Vancouver, with their losses to the latter two each of the one-goal variety. “There’s no easy games in this league, that’s for sure,” said O’Connor.
“They are a really good team, so we’re not really looking at their record. We’re kind of more worried about ourselves, because we’re coming off a couple tough ones, so we want to play our best and respond, especially in front of our home fans.”
Last season, the Roughnecks came away with an 11-8 win during their visit to Ottawa. “They’re a physical team, they’re big bodies, they try to grind it down and they’ve got a lot of really good players,” described O’Connor.
“I don’t think their record indicates how strong they are. So it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a dog fight and we’ve got to be ready to go right from the opening whistle.”
THE GOODS
Watch: You can watch every regular season NLL game on NLL+ free of charge (excluding NLL Friday Night on TSN). Tonight’s game will also be available on TSN+, and ESPN+.
The Opponent: The Roughnecks sit last place in the NLL at 1-6, but are coming off three playoff appearances in the four years prior to this season.
The Stat: Jeff Teat leads the league in points (64) entering play in Week 10. He also leads all forwards in loose balls (63, which is also tied for 11th among all positions).
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up at home is a Saturday meeting with Calgary on Feb. 7 at Canadian Tire Centre.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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