The Cochrane Generals have won their fourth straight game after a pair of weekend victories over the Three Hills Thrashers and the Strathmore Wheatland Kings. The Gens dominated the Thrashers 13-0 on Oct. 6, while also adding a 5-2 victory on Oct. 8 over Strathmore.
All but five players off the Generals roster registered at least a point in Cochrane’s victory over Three Hills. Austin Keller got the party started early in the first period as he took a feed from Talus Hume and beat the Thrashers goaltender just before the game was 30 seconds old. The goal was the start of a wave of six-goal shutout in the first period. Cochrane outshot Three Hills 79-10.
Keller finished the game with a goal and three assists, while Colton Wong and Slater Ransom also finished with four points, and Braden Bain continued his goal-scoring streak with a natural hat trick in the second period. Goaltender Erik Garber made 10 saves for his second shut out of the season.
Against Strathmore, Keller once again scored and added an assist, and rookie Scott Shugg chipped in with a goal and added his fourth assist of the season, while Garber was once again solid in the Generals’ net turning away 24 of 26 shots.
The Generals have outscored their opponents 36-21 over the first six games of the season and currently sit in first place in the southern division.
Generals head coach Derek Donald was happy with his team’s performance over the weekend.
“We played the way we wanted to, we got good goaltending, we played well as a team and we played with a lot of energy in both games,” Donald said.
“Every game and every weekend we’re erasing our mistakes and are improving in all aspects of the game. We’ve been getting good scoring, the defencemen have been good and thing’s are starting to click.”
The games don’t get any easier for Cochrane as they welcome the Blackfalds Wranglers on Oct. 14 and will host the defending league champion Red Deer Vipers on Oct. 15.
“Both teams are 3-1 … we need to come out with energy and make sure we need to do our job … it should be a good couple games this weekend,” Donald said.
The game against Red Deer will be a rematch of the league finals from a year ago, and the Generals will have no shortage of motivation according to Talus Hume.
“These are the games we look forward to as a group and for the returning guys I’d say there’s definitely some added motivation,” Hume said.
“I think you always want to prove that what happened in the past won’t happen again.”
Both games will at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, puck drop will be 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 against Blackfalds and 5:30 p.m. 0n Oct. 15 against Red Deer.
