Bees open four-game trip against Gorillas

McALLEN — There’s no reason why a team that beats the Arizona Sundogs one night can get routed the next by the Austin Ice Bats. There’s also no explanation why that same team can win three of four games then turn in a four-game winless streak.

Unfortunately for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, that’s been the story of their first 21 games. One night, it appears they’ve made progress. And then the next, any forward motion is violently stopped. That was exactly what happened last weekend, when just one night after beating a first-place Arizona team, RGV (8-10-3), then fell 5-2 at the last-place Ice Bats.

Undoubtedly, finding some sort of consistency is something the Bees will need to do soon.

Tonight, when they start a four-game road trip at Amarillo, would be a good time.

“It was a huge letdown emotionally, mentally, any way you look at it,” Bees defenseman Jeremy Van Hoof said of Saturday’s loss.

But, the answer as to why that happened Saturday, and why it keeps happening, is eluding Van Hoof and the rest of the Bees.

“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be doing it anymore,” Van Hoof said. “Like I’ve said, I really don’t know what it is. We go on a little streak and win a couple then we go on a bad streak and we lose three or four. Good teams can’t do that. We’ve got to find a way to try to stop this and get on a streak of five wins.”

As of Friday, the Bees are in fifth place in the Southern Conference with 19 points. This season’s playoff format allows only the top five to qualify for the postseason, with the Bees three points ahead of sixth-place Corpus Christi. While the playoffs don’t start until late March, any consistency the Bees can attain would help them solidify a spot in the postseason.

And they know that bad losses like the one last Saturday hurt, and take away two valuable points.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating for sure,” Bees coach Paul Fixter said. “I know what we’re capable of doing because I saw what we’re capable of doing (Friday).”

One of the Bees’ newest players, forward Ladislav Kouba, noticed a change between the team

on Friday and Saturday. He said he knows RGV must find a way to maintain the same effort from game to game.

“We had a great game (Friday), but we stayed a little bit too high going into the next game,” Kouba said. “We kind of took the easy way out. We kind of thought we were going to have a much easier game because it’s Austin.

“I guess we were not really ready for that game.”

The Bees will have to be even more ready for their next four, all on the road. In eight games away from Dodge Arena, they’ve earned only four points. And any lackluster effort or inconsistency probably will be rewarded with another loss.

Van Hoof said the team’s inconsistency “drives guys nuts” but added that a road trip might be able to help the Bees solve that problem.

“Sometimes this is what you need. A good week, a good two weeks that the team can spend together. Hopefully we can solve it,” Van Hoof said. “I think this road trip can either be a great thing for the team or it can be real bad.”

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.