Calgary Canucks trying to get back to their winning ways

It's been a bit of a struggle for the Calgary Canucks of late, dropping seven of their past eight games, but panic hasn't set in yet.

The Calgary Canucks are in a funk.

They’ve dropped seven of their past eight games and are just 2-6-1-1 in their past 10.

The Canucks have dropped to fourth place in the AJHL’s south division, and even though they’ve been having a tough time of it of late, head coach Mat Robinson isn’t panicking.

“I think for our group, we’re pretty young,” said Robinson.

“We’re one of the younger teams in the league, and so going through this adversity now is better than in the playoffs.”

This is team captain Riley Bracko’s third full season with the Canucks.

Over the past couple of seasons, the Canucks haven’t had many struggles.

Bracko says maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be going through some adversity.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate to play good hockey the last couple of years, but I think it’s good for this team to have adversity,” he said.

“It’s not like we’re the same team we were the last couple of years. We’ve got to adapt and change with the times, and adversity is a big part of it.”

Defenceman Malachi Freh just joined the Canucks three weeks ago.

The Canucks acquired him in a trade with the BCHL’s Canmore Bucks.

Even though he hasn’t been with the team for very long, Freh was named an assistant captain.

He says the team has to have the right frame of mind to get through the tough times.

“Always try to stay positive,” said Freh.

“I think we’re doing a lot of the right things and trending in the right direction. We have to make sure guys are bought in and stay consistent and keep pressing on and sticking with the process.

“We know what we’re building toward here, and obviously that’s going to be a long playoff run and to make it three (AJHL Championships) in a row here.”

Important stretch

The Canucks have a busy schedule coming up with three games in four nights.

They’re in Canmore on Thursday night and then back home for a pair of weekend games.

They take on Lloydminster on Saturday and Bonnyville on Sunday.

Robinson knows this is an important time, with the regular season ending March 15.

“The next three are very important, but we have to start with the first one, and that’s Thursday night in Canmore,” said Robinson.

“We’ve got to start with that first win and go from there. But every win is going to count from here to playoff time.”