After having their eight game point streak snapped due to a 4-3 loss to the Stettler Lightning on Nov.
After having their eight game point streak snapped due to a 4-3 loss to the Stettler Lightning on Nov. 17, the Cochrane Generals continued their Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) season with a pair of games against the Mountainview Colts and the Airdrie Thunder on Nov. 23 and 24.
The Gens were in Didsbury for their first of two games where they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period thanks to goals from Ryan Davis, Jaeden Dowling and River Ross before Ross got his second goal of the game to stretch the Cochrane lead to three after Mountainview made it 3-1. Ross got his third goal of the game to make it 5-1 while the Colts scored with 50 seconds left to give the game its final score of 5-2.
Ross also added an assist while goaltender Erik Garber was solid making 33 saves on the night.
The team returned home to face the undefeated Airdrie Thunder the following night. The score sheet was not pretty for the Generals as they fell behind 6-0 before Vance Wesley and Ryan Davis got the home side on the board late in the second and early in the third. Airdrie put two more in the net to make it 8-2 with Takuro Okada and Wesley rounding out the scoring to make it 8-4.
Generals head coach Travis McMillan said he was somewhat happy with the results on the weekend and there was plenty his team could take away from the games.
“I thought we played rather well against Mountainview. We were pretty short-staffed due to injuries, illness and suspension, which resulted in us only running three lines with one extra forward. Other than that, I think the guys realized there was some extra slack they needed to pick up but they played their game … they were quick and played well in the defensive zone so I was happy to see that,” McMillan said.
“Unfortunately, on Saturday, we took that loss against Airdrie. It’s tough to compete when you don’t do all the small things right and aren’t patient with the game. I think it showed a lot in how much we need to control our emotions … near the end of the game and throughout the middle portion, there were a few guys from our side that got a little hot headed and it basically was our downturn. We were in the box more than I would have liked but it just goes to show when you’re playing a team like that, you need all the variables to go into a win.”
One positive to take away from the weekend was the play of forward River Ross who had three goals and an assist against Mountainview while posting 18 points in 16 games on the season.
“River has been coming on strong through these first 16 games that we’ve had and he’s always in my office talking about things he could do better and ways he could improve his game … he’s shed a lot of weight, moving a little faster and has more confidence with the puck,” McMillan said of his fourth leading scorer.
“His line mates deserve some credit too though in Vance Wesley and Caylin Wildman coming in as rookies on our team. We’ve stuck them together for sometime now and we aren’t afraid to start them against any team because they’ve been doing so well because they’ve been doing fantastic for us.”
Cochrane will now take on the High River Flyers in a home and home starting Nov. 29 in High River with Cochrane hosting the following night.
