The win sees Moose Jaw now holding an 11-19-2-1 record, nine points back of the Beardy's Blackhawks for the eighth and final playoff spot with 11 games remaining in the regular season.
“We can compete with that kind of team if we come with that kind of effort all the time,” said Generals coach Ray Wareham. “Against Swifty we just didn't seem to have any energy, but today they responded and played like they're capable of. We had some last-minute scratches due to sickness and a bunch of guys who were sick still played and they still came out and had a great game.”
The Generals wasted little time getting things going against Tisdale, as Jake Palmer scored 2:20 into the game and then added a power play marker with 2:42 remaining in the first for a 2-0 Moose Jaw lead.
Brendan Kemp made the score 3-0 with another goal on the man advantage at the 12:57 mark as the Generals would come out of the second period with a 3-1 edge. Kemp added his second of the game and Jaxon Georget scored an empty netter to put things away.
Jaxson Taupert made 23 saves for the win, the Generals had 23 shots at Tisdale's Bryson Garton.
“It's just consistency and it's that emotional weight of that slide we went on, eight or 10 games, when you get scored on the automatic thought is 'here we go again' and they have to fight through that,” Wareham said.
“But I tell ya, they're coming to the rink and they're willing to learn and try. We might not have been the best team most nights, but we showed we're capable tonight since we just beat the first place team.”
While the Generals have a major mountain to climb in order to catch eighth place over the next month of action, Wareham has no intention of letting his charges give up in any way, shape or form.
“We told the guys 'don't quit here',” Wareham said. “We have our work cut out for us and we need some help, but we can control our effort and if we play like we did here today and get some more wins, we'll see what happens at the end of the season.”
The Generals are back in action Jan. 26 when they travel to Wilcox to face the Notre Dame Hounds. Next home action is Feb. 2 against the Yorkton Maulers (1:30 p.m., Mosaic Place).
