Cochrane Generals have revived their early-season form, winning both their home games over the weekend after losing three of their previous four in the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL).
“We just stuck with what we wanted to do regarding our team concepts,” Evan McFeeters, Generals head coach said of his team’s recent success.
“We knew things would eventually go right for us.”
On Oct. 30, Gens (9-2-1, 1st Southern Div.) played Banff Academy Bears (6-5-1, 4th Southern Div.) at Spray Lakes Family Sports Centre.
Talus Hume, Austin Keller, and Slater Ransom (two) scored the goals for the home team as the score ended 4-4 after overtime.
Connor Rendell scored in the shoot-out to give Gens the full points, after a game full of scrappy play and mental mistakes.
“We know we have the skill and systems in place to be successful,” McFeeters said when asked about the mental toughness of his team.
“We have to be mentally engaged in who we are playing.
“If we’re playing against Banff or Airdrie, we have to make sure we are playing Cochrane Generals hockey.”
Gens next hosted rivals Airdrie Thunder (9-4, 2nd Northern Div.) on Oct. 31.
From the get-go, it was evident that both sides were going to play physical and would not back down from the challenge.
Gens were flying after Dylan White (assisted by Levi Barker and Dustin Boone) scored in the first-period.
Some solid saves from Gens goalie McKenzie Chalmers and the goalpost kept the score 1-0 going into the second.
Joey Stensland (Rendell with the helper) scored his first goal of the season to put the home team up 2-0, before Kurt Thrussell scored (also his first of the year) with a screamer of a wrist shot to triple Gens lead.
Thunder got one back on the power-play late in the second.
Gens added two more in the third, Stensland (second of the game), and veteran defenceman Dustin Ponath (assist from Brett Berndt) rounded up the scoring with his first goal of the season.
Thunder got a late consolation goal on the power-play, but Gens never looked like losing control in the high-intensity affair.
“Tonight has been the best effort we have put together,” McFeeters said. “Airdrie came here on a seven-game win streak, and they have the top goal scorer in the league. So, we needed to dig our heels in.”
McFeeters believes that his team had added incentive to beat their rivals and stop their winning streak.
“There was a lot of motivation going into this game,” McFeeters said. “(Airdrie) did us some favours beating teams in our division, but it was our turn to take care of business.
High spirits, and lots of penalties accentuated the little-masked rivalry between the two sides who were desperate to end their Halloween on a high. The physicality of Airdrie make them one of the toughest teams that Gens face in the league.
“We brought a gritty attitude and it paid off with a couple of goals from our bottom lines,” McFeeters said. “It went a long way to getting two points.”
Matching Thunder hit for hit was something that Gens knew they would have to do if they were going to get two-points.
“That was part of our game plan, we talked about it before the game,” McFeeters said. “We wanted to play physical, we wanted to play on the line, but we didn’t want to cross it.
“Our goal is to stay out of the penalty box and make life difficult on teams and opposing players who come to our rink. We wanted to make sure that we leaned on Airdrie, and got our sticks in.”
In terms of his team’s recent losing streak, McFeeters says that he was never all that worried since he team weren’t playing as badly as the results would have people believe.
“We didn’t feel that were we playing terribly,” McFeeters confessed.
“We had lots of chances, but it just came down to us not putting the puck in the back of the net.”
Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lakes Family Sports Centre: Coaldale Copperheads (9-5, 2nd, Southern Div.) at Gens (9-2-1, 1st Southern Div.)
Friday, Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lakes Family Sports Centre: Okotoks Bisons (7-3, 3rd Southern Div.) at Gens.
Slater Ransom has continued his points streak from last week, picking up two goals and an assist against Banff Academy Bears on Oct. 30. He now has ten goals and six assists in ten games this season. Connor Rendell (7g, 9a) and Corey Goeson (9g, 7a) have both kept pace in the scoring race, with each contributing assists in the Bears and Thunder games.
Three-year Veteran defenceman Matthew Kaczur has played seven games this season recording zero points and four penalty minutes. Rookie defenceman Brett Hamer has failed to record a point in his last two games.
Captain Craig Packard remains out with a shoulder injury and forward Chad Harrison is out with a kidney problem.
Dylan White, Dustin Ponath, Kurt Thrussell, and Joey Stensland all recorded their first goals of the season over the weekend. Ponath and Stensland(2) scored against Thunder. White and Thrussell scored against Bears.
McKenzie Chalmers and Ty Robinson swapped netminding duties over the weekend with Chalmers stopping 24 out of 28 shots against Bears, and Robinson keeping out 31 of 33 against Thunder.
Gens have two games left in their home stand before going on the road, visiting Stettler Lightning (Nov. 14) and Coaldale Copperheads (Nov.21)
Head-to-head
Gens were 1-3 against Copperheads last season and are 1-1 vs. Bisons this year.
