If it's on fire, you can be sure the Cochrane Generals are nearby. First their chartered team bus burned. They followed that up with a barn-burner in Game 5 of the Heritage Junior Hockey League Southern Division final.
If it's on fire, you can be sure the Cochrane Generals are nearby.
First their chartered team bus burned. They followed that up with a barn-burner in Game 5 of the Heritage Junior Hockey League Southern Division final. The end result is a trip to the Heritage Junior Hockey League final to face the Northern Division-champion Mountainview Colts, who swept Airdrie 4-0 in the North final.
The Gens defeated the Coaldale Copperheads 6-5 in double-overtime on Friday night (March 11) in Cochrane, winning the best-of-7 Southern Division final series 4-1.
The win came after the Generals regrouped from a March 5 tilt in Coaldale when their team bus suffered an engine fire in the arena parking lot, leaving them stranded at the rink for three hours before a replacement bus arrived. Suffering a 4-1 Game 3 loss in that one, it would be Cochrane's only loss in the series.
The Gens bounced back, winning the fourth game 3-2 in Coaldale, before sealing the deal with the 6-5 double-OT win Friday night. Captain Craig Packard, Corey Goeson (2), and Connor Rendell (2), set the table for Chad Harrison's OT winner just over seven minutes into second extra frame. Rendell added three assists for a five-point night. Harrison had three helpers for a four-point outing. Gens starting goalie Ty Robinson kicked out 38 of 43 Coaldale shots for the win, including a couple of highlight-reel showstoppers, earning the game's first star.
Game 1 of the league final goes Tuesday (March 15) at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, 8 p.m. puck drop.
