The Cochrane Generals are looking their 13th, yes, 13th straight win Feb. 1 against the Coaldale Copperheads after they beat those very same Copperheads 5-4 on Jan. 27 as well as defeating the Strathmore Wheatland Kings 5-3 on Jan 25.
With the streak, Cochrane is now only three points back of the second place Okotoks Bisons and four points back of Coaldale who holds down the top spot in the Heritage Junior Hockey League's (HJHL) Southern Division with the Gens having two games in hand on both teams.
"A lot has gone into winning 12 games in a row. Obviously having the schedule that we did, it wasn't an easy part of it. If people take a look at our record over January and the last half of December, we had some tough games against Okotoks and Coaldale," said Generals head coach Travis McMillan of his team's good fortunes the past month and a half.
"It wasn't an easy road to get to where we are now, but after the break we got healthy and started working right away with our first practice back on Dec. 27 and then having games in the New Year. There's a lot of factors that go into win streaks ... the guys are gelling, building chemistry on all four lines as well as solidifying our defensive pairings and line combinations while also getting our roster down to its requirements, there were a lot of kinks we had to iron out but the boys are coming together at the right time and the train hasn't really stopped. I'll give the guys some credit for their work effort but I think for the most part it was our locker room coming together after the break and we just rolled with it."
The Generals will once again play Coaldale on Feb. 1, a team that the Generals are looking to sweep and take the season series. For some teams having so much success against a team in the regular season could be their downfall once the games count come playoff time, but McMillan said that doesn't really concern his team.
"Early on in the beginning of the season in that game against them in their rink, we were able to steal those points from them in an overtime win. From that point in the season until now, I think we're playing a completely different style now then we were," McMillan said confidently. "We're playing our style of hockey, which is something that doesn't really happen too often at the beginning of the season. We have a lot of strong hockey players, ones who are more mentally tough and guys who are digging right down deep to settle into our zone early in the game."
"That's a very strong hockey team they have down in Coaldale, but I think our guys are getting in our groove and they believe that they should be right there with Okotoks and Coaldale. Is our success going to be our downfall? I don't think so, it's the same thing as if you'd ask the question about if we're cocky or confident. Having what we have to deal with throughout the first half of the season compared to last year – this is a completely different Generals hockey team."
"I fully anticipated that we'd be sitting in fourth of fifth (coming into the season) due to the fact I wasn't sure what returning players we were getting back, who we lost, if we had enough depth players and if our goaltenders were going to come back, I thought we'd maybe be in some trouble. This team has more of a work ethic then we did last year. We had a lot of highly talented athletes last year where we had the ability to sit back in games then rely on three or four players to pot a couple goals and steal some wins. We don't have that ability this year, there's so much more work ethic ... we've gotten good depth scoring, our goaltenders have been stealing games for us and we've been getting steady defence. We're more confident than cocky and the guys really believe in themselves."
McMillan also had high praise for his leading point getter in forward Braden Bain, who leads the team with 22 goals and 50 points in 31 games, 14 points more than Chris Sambrook who sits second on the team.
"With Braden being the only over-aged player left on this team right now, he started pulling away from the pack in about mid December when we had some injuries - Brandon Aab went down with mono, Harry Osler suffered a shoulder injury in the first week of January as well as River Ross who is also out with a shoulder injury," McMillan said.
"Those are two depth guys who chip in all the time and then having (Brandon) Aab out as well, Braden really stepped up and took that second line on his shoulders and is playing really well with Caden Chudleigh and Scott Shugg which makes for a deadly line but he's really come together in his own sense. He's a speedy guy who can utilize that speed and put points on the board for us ... he's been fantastic this year."
You can catch Bain and his teammates on Feb. 1 as well as Feb. 3 against Medicine Hat with both games going at the Cochrane Arena.
