Alex Belzile self-flagellated after Rocket's latest loss
After an excellent training camp with the Canadiens, Alex Belzile had convinced the staff to offer him a position in the NHL. With the return of some players, the forward was returned to the AHL earlier this year.
Since then, Belzile has had a less than stellar start to the season with the Rocket. In 10 games, he has only collected five points and has a minus-4 rating.
It must be said that the Laval Rocket is struggling these days. Jean-François Houle's team is sixth in the North Division with a 7-9-2 record.
In their last game, Laval overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period, but ultimately lost in overtime by a score of 4-3 to the Texas Stars.
In the loss, Belzile picked up an assist, but it was the bad penalty he took in the second period that caught the eye.
In a post-game interview, the Rivière-du-Loup native was quite harsh on himself in his comments.
"I'm not playing my best field hockey. I know I'm better than that. I got the team in trouble on Wednesday and I deserved to be punished. I didn't deserve a recall either."
Jean-François Houle, for his part, didn't mind leaving Belzile on the bench more often than not for the rest of the game.
"He didn't play for the first 10 minutes of the third. I said those bad penalties are unacceptable and he knows that. He apologized to his teammates," the coach said after the game.
Laval will have to get their act together as soon as possible if they don't want to see the gap in the standings widen. The Rocket have a chance to get back to winning ways tonight against the same Stars.
