The Cochrane Generals will be looking to extend their winning streak to 10 games when they face the Ponoka Stampeders on Sunday.
Dominating the weekend, the Gens tallied another four points after downing the Stampeders at home 5-1 on home ice on Fridays. They then throttled the Blackfald Wranglers 6-2 in that team's arena on Sunday.
Friday's game was a slow start for the Gens, who controlled zone play and rattled a few shots off the post only managed one goal in the first period after falling behind early in the first period when the Stampeders chipped their one and only goal past goaltender Knute Lowe in the first four minutes of play.
River Ross with the help of Brandon Aab and Jordan Marks scored the equalizer in the dying seconds of a rough first period that saw a lot of hitting and tempers flare at times.
Neither team was able to capitalize on their scoring chances in the second and Ponoka's goaltending kept the Stampeders from being decimated as the Generals hammered shot after shot at the net, wracking up 16 in that period alone on their way to a 43 shot total.
River Ross finally opened it up for the General's scoring his second of the game four minutes into the third. The goal, which saw Ross fight off a defender to shoot one past the glove of the Ponoka goaltender Brandon Clark, ignited the General's offence.
From there it was all Gens who scored three more, two from Ben Davison and another from Scott Shugg), to cap off a 5-1 victory.
Davison, who had two goals on the night, was happy with the outcome but added his team should have been up earlier and credits Ross' second goal for swinging the tide.
"I
t brought us back completely,"he said of Ross' goal. "It opened the flood gates."
Gens coach Travis McMillan is hammering the message that his team has to play a full 60 minutes if they hope to stay in the race for second with Okotoks who has a one point lead in the standings and a bye into the playoffs. Both teams have seven games left on the season.
"That's a good hockey program and if they go on a streak at the end of this year you never know," said McMillan who added he is emphasizing to his players to focus on what they can control and that is what they do on the ice.
McMillan pointed to Sunday's game as an example of how his team needs to play – starting early and keeping the momentum through all three periods.
The Generals scored in each period of play, once in the first, twice in the second and three times in the third on the way to their 6-2 route over the Wranglers. Brandon Aab, who had been out of the line up for an extended period of time and returned last week, has slid easily back into the line up with points in every contest since. He put up two goals and an assist against Blackfalds while Braden Bain, Takura Okada each tallied one and Scott Shugg found the back of the net twice.
McMillan said extending the streak to 10 and beyond will mean playing well against some strong teams. The Gens will play the Southern Division leaders in the Coaldale Copperheads twice and a feisty Medicine Hat team twice, the latter of which McMillan said cant be taken lightly.
As the Gens look to continue their winning ways to cap off the season, the final seven games will not be a cake walk with two games against the league's top team in the Coaldale Copperheads and three against the feisty Medicine Hat Cubs.
"Those will be tough games, especially Medicine Hat," said McMillan, adding his team's success is a product of its work ethic. "You need to get up for every game. Points are vital for us this time of the year."
McMillan is excited for the final weeks and is impressed with how his team as fared this year after not knowing what to expect this year after losing a number of key players in the offence last year. He credits that success to the team's depth and said now it will be a matter of not getting complacent as they ride with win wave.
"Complacency is the best work because we have tendency to just settle. I have been preaching to guys, you can't just settle on one to two point leads ... having the foot on the gas is something we have to maintain."
The Generals next game is Sunday in Ponoka and they return home to face Strathmore on Jan. 25.
