The Cochrane Generals closed out a successful 2016 home stretch Saturday with a blowout and a bunch of brawls against the High River Flyers.
The hockey game was likely to be lopsided, with High River only showing six wins on the board this season, compared to the Generals, who sit in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League’s top spot. By the end of the first period, the Gens had nearly disappeared into the distance with a 7-0 lead.
Players Slater Ransom, Dawson Javorsky, Brandon Aab, Connor Rendell and Colton Wong all logged goals in the first 20 minutes.
In the second, High River fans loudly cheered Adam Rosen’s goal at 16:25 to get the Flyers on the board, but the Gens returned fire with two more of their own to put the score at 9-1.
The rest of the game felt more like a boxing match than a hockey game at times, as frustrations boiled over and fists flew for most of the last period. Cochrane collected nearly 40 minutes in penalty time for fighting and game misconducts, while High River’s time in the box added up to even more, at 42 minutes.
Gens’ forwards Levi Barker and Taylor Girard, as well as rookie defenceman Walid Hassin, still found time to put four more pucks past Flyers goalie Dakota Omura, though, to close out the match at 13-1.
Sunday, the Cochrane team took the show on the road to Banff, where the Bears bested the Gens after a back-and-forth battle for the win. After the end of the first period saw a tie of 1-1, Slater Ransom netted one in the second to move the Gens into the lead, but the Bears knocked in two goals of their own to put the score at 3-2 going into the third period.
Forward Chad Harrison tied it up again in the last 20 minutes to force overtime, but when neither team could put the game to bed, it moved to a shoot out. The Bears slipped one past goalie Ryan Simpson for a 4-3 win.
The Generals’ final three games of the year will be played on the road – with back to back matches this Friday and Saturday in High River and Medicine Hat. Their final game of 2016 rolls out in Strathmore against the Wheatland Kings on Dec. 17.
