The Cochrane Generals will work to cool the fire in their bellies while staying hot on the heels of their competition after they blazed through the Heritage Junior Hockey League semi-finals – but were plagued by penalties throughout the series.
“I love the energy and enthusiasm that we’re playing with. They’re showing how confident they are about their abilities as a team … and doing everything they can to win hockey games,” said head coach Dan Gendur this week. “In the next round, if we take (so many) penalties, we’re going to be in big trouble.”
After a bye through the first round of the playoffs, the first-place Generals swept the Banff Academy Bears in the second-round seven-game series.
The fourth and final matchup took place in Banff on Sunday night and the Gens sent players to the box 17 times – including three misconduct penalties – for 20 penalty minutes.
Add that to 31 more penalties through games one, two and three, and that’s a lot of time to kill.
“We were shorthanded. You can get away with it against Banff, but you can’t get away with it with (other) teams,” said Gendur of the on-ice disadvantage. “That’s something that they’ve got to figure out: what the line is and not crossing it.”
Captain Logan Brown – who earned a two-minute time out on Sunday for unsportsmanlike conduct – said it gets emotional for players on both sides of the blue line when they’re gunning to gain ground every single game.
“It gets frustrating,” he said. “Penalties can win or lose a series for you (so) everyone just needs to stay disciplined. If we can stay out of the penalty box, we’ll definitely have the upper hand.”
The Gens now have a week to make adjustments and cool their jets while the Okotoks Bisons and Coaldale Copperheads war for the second spot in the south division finals.
While Okotoks sits in the pole position with a series lead of 3-1 and are expected to clinch the contest, the battle has gone into overtime three times.
“It’s extremely tight and you just never know what’s going to happen,” he said, adding Cochrane will prepare for any eventuality when the HJHL south finals begin on Tuesday.
While penalties have chafed an otherwise smooth ride through the post-season so far for the Generals, Gendur said he’s confident in the elite level of play his team can deliver moving forward.
“We’re still playing hard and still having that energy and enthusiasm. We’re good, we’re healthy – we’re the healthiest we’ve ever been all season,” said Gendur, adding the team is at full power with the return of injured players, including Brown, who sat out for most of 2016.
As a veteran of the team, Brown has been to the big show before, and he hopes he can help show that with a drive to win – combined with composure – the championship is certainly within reach.
“Everyone couldn’t be happier – it’s exciting,” he said. “This is going to be a dogfight ... Everyone needs to realize how big this is going to be.”
