That’s Why They Call It a Rebuild

The rebuilding Moncton Wildcats battled hard, but came up short last night in their season opener in front of a sell out crowd at the Avenir Centre.

A sell out crowd considering the new normal that is.

A win is a win, a loss is a loss, but you can chose to focus on the negative or you can build on the positives.

I get it a loss is a loss, but when you are a rebuilding hockey club you have to take some positives out of every game, especially Game 1 of the season.

Trust me it shouldn’t be all doom and gloom after the Wildcats season opener and it’s way too early to play the blame game or point the finger.

There were a lot of good things that happened out there last night. There were a lot of firsts for the home side with a lot of inspired efforts.

We all know the Cats are going to be in tough all season long, that’s just part of the process, but the most impressive aspect of last nights game was their compete level.

Did they lose some puck battles? Yes.

Did they have break downs? Yes.

Did they get into penalty trouble? Yes

Did they work their asses off? Yes!

Break downs will happen. Penalties will happen, but the one constant that needs to be there every step of the way for a rebuilding team is the will to compete.

The Wildcats work ethic and quite frankly their “give a shit factor” was very high last night and that speaks volumes to the character of their veteran leadership group and young players.

The Cats rookies looked composed, their veterans may have pressed a little at times, but that shows that they care.

You can dwell on the negative and criticize or you can take out the positives.

For now this rebuild is nothing like the last time and that’s a good thing.

The future is very bright for the Moncton Wildcats.

As for the present, well there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs, but when you have veterans that care, rookies that buy in and a coaching staff that is committed to teaching and being patient you will ultimately come out on the other end of junior hockey’s dreaded cycle stronger than ever.

It might have been a loss. It may not have been the result that people wanted, but it’s something to build off of and that’s what matters most, hell that’s why they call it a rebuild.