ROANOKE, Va. – There’s been a bit of a momentum swing for the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs in the last couple weeks.
According to head coach Dan Bremner, a lot of it has to do with simplifying their game.
“Energy and simplification,” Bremner said. “We were doing way too much with the puck. We got down to simple, hard hockey, getting the puck up ice.”
“Winning a couple games gave us some confidence and made some things a little easier at practice,” Jeff Jones said. “We have to stay focused. We’re still pretty far behind in the points race right now so we have to keep working hard and doing the things that have made us successful lately.”
One addition the Dawgs have made in the last few weeks was signing goalie Jacob Theut, who has saved 91% of shots in five games, two of them in back-to-back wins.
“It’s been great. The guys have confidence in both goalies right now so you play a little bit differently when you have that confidence,” Bremner said. “You know he’s going to make a big save, you know he’s going to make all the saves he should make. And he will probably bail you out for a couple every game too. So when you have that confidence the whole team plays a little bit better.”
“Our culture is definitely establishing a winning culture,” said Theut. “We’re focusing on the little details, guys are putting in the extra work, it’s a half hour after practice and the majority of the team is still on the ice, so it’s good to see.”
Up next for the Dawgs: They will head to Macon on Friday then back to Roanoke in the Berglund Center to face Knoxville on Saturday.