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HAMILTON -- Have they hit bottom?
They've been in a free fall for more than a month, but no matter how bad things got as the losses mounted, the Edmonton Road Runners always had the consolation of knowing that they still had a playoff spot, that they still controlled their own destiny.
That consolation is gone after a 6-3 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum yesterday. If AHL playoffs were to start today, the Road Runners would be out. Suddenly, they're in sixth place.
The only surprising thing about that, given they've now won just once in their last 15 games during a collapse that's included a record nine-game losing streak, is that it took so long to get here.
"We didn't deserve to win that hockey game,"coach Geoff Ward said. "There have been some games in this stretch when we played well enough to win, but today we didn't deserve it."
The Road Runners did it to themselves again in another mistake-filled effort, this time spotting the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead, then roaring back to tie it, only to have Chris Higgins beat them with his second goal of the game 52 seconds into the third period on a power play. It was their fourth straight loss to the Bulldogs, who are tied with the Road Runners at 67 points, but sit fifth in the North Division because they have 28 wins to Edmonton's 27. Syracuse vaulted over both teams into fourth place with a 6-5 shootout win over Rochester last night.
When Jason Ward, Higgins, on a goalmouth giveaway by Rocky Thompson, and Jonathan Ferland put pucks behind Tyler Moss on just eight shots in the first 17 minutes, it looked like the Road Runners might as well fire up the bus and get started on an eight-hour bus ride to Chicago.
"Mine was totally stupid,"said Thompson. "It totally set the pace for the game. We made a lot of mistakes. Our penalty killing stunk. It's always something new, but the same result."
When Mathieu Roy and Tony Salmelainen cut it to 3-2 by the end of the first period and Toby Petersen sifted Paul Healey's feed behind Yann Danis late in the second, it was game on. Just not for long.
First it was Higgins, then a brutal giveaway right on the tape by Jeff Woywitka that Tomas Plekanec buried to make it 5-3 with less than four minutes to play. Ferland's second, into an empty net, just rubbed it in.
"Hopefully, it's bottom," Ward said. "We've taken some tough knocks on the chin and developed some iron against the adversity, but today was a step back for us.
"I hope we've bottomed out. Experience shows that, collectively, when we're sick of losing, we'll stop losing and find a way to get it turned around. Maybe the fact we're out of the playoffs will be the catalyst that does it."
MROZIK ON THE MEND
Rick Mrozik, out since Feb. 26 with a torn groin, jetted into Hamilton yesterday and will begin skating. There's a chance he could play the last couple games of the trip.
While the news on Mrozik is promising, Jason Platt has joined the list of wounded with a concussion. Platt got his bell rung in the third period of Saturday's game in St. John's. He sat out yesterday.
AROUND THE RINK: Jamie Wright returned to the lineup after missing the games in St. John's to attend a personal matter.