The Moose Jaw Generals are sitting with an 18-7-4-0 record on the year.

The Moose Jaw Generals are playing some strong hockey right now.  

They've lost just once in the past 16 league games and have are sitting in a top-four spot in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League.

That doesn't mean their isn't work to do for the local squad as they look to continue improving their game as we inch closer and closer to the 2014 Telus Cup national championship at Mosaic Place.

The Generals returned from the Christmas break with a 4-3 loss to the Notre Dame Hounds last Thursday, but they bounced back from that with two wins over the weekend, including in a playoff-type atmosphere against fifth place Tisdale on Saturday.

“You never like losing, but we needed that,” said Ray Wareham, Generals head coach.  “On Saturday, I thought we played with a lot of energy and emotion and tight and that's what we want to play in is those tight games and get that experience.”

The strong finish to the weekend with wins over Tisdale and Beardy's made for a good week for the Generals.  The power play was great in those two games, scoring five goals on 15 attempts, for one of the better performances of the year out of that unit.

The Generals still want to see it stronger and that's been the focus this week in practice.

“It's a continuous thing, I thought it was pretty good this past weekend,” said Wareham.  “Hopefully just keep working on it and get a little more familiar with it and it will be good again this weekend.”

Since returning from Christmas, the Generals have also been seeing stronger performances from their lineup with every line starting to contribute and play their role.

“Some guys have really raised their play since the break,” said Wareham.  “We told them before Christmas time that when you come back there are no more rookies and everybody needs to buy in and play their role.  They've done that to this point.”

On tap this weekend are the sixth place Regina Pat Canadians and the Notre Dame Hounds again.  The Hounds are the only team to beat the Generals in the past two months and that game on Sunday will no doubt be on that the team is focused on.  They can't however overlook the Pat Canadians, who are just four points back in the standings.

“They work extremely hard, they've got good goaltending, they're good in their own end and don't give you much, so we're going to have to work for everything we get,” explained Wareham.

Regina is led by Moose Jaw Warriors prospect Jayden Halbgewachs, who has 19 goals and 43 points this season.  That includes one goal and two points against the Generals so far this year, but both are wins for the Generals.

“Halbgewachs, (Cohen) Yano and (Owen) Sillinger are their three key guys that you've got to make sure you shut down and for the first two games we've played them, we've done a pretty good job of that,” said Wareham.  “We're going to have to do the same kind of things here if we want to have success against them.

“The boys have had a good week of practice here, they seem pretty upbeat, so hopefully we're ready to go.”

The Generals will be in Regina on Saturday afternoon at two at the Al Ritchie Arena and then in Wilcox on Sunday at 4:30pm to take on the Hounds.