Labour Day has come and gone, which only means one thing for local hockey fans. The Cochrane Generals junior B hockey team is very close to kicking off their 2018-19 Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) campaign after training camp opened Sept. 4. It should be an interesting year for the team as they've lost their top three scorers in line-mates Talus Hume (33 goals and 38 assists for 71 points) and Slater Ransom (28 goals and 39 assists for 67 points) as well as defenceman and team captain Austin Keller (12 goals and 35 assists for 47 points) while also losing shut down defenceman Will Gretton (one goal, 12 assists for 13 points) to graduation. The foursome combined to generate nearly 50 per cent of the team's offence. The Generals will still have a good core of young players, who will be expected to step up and chip in to replace the production of their graduating players as the offence will likely come from the likes of newly-named captain Colton Wong (7 goals, 20 assists), Brandon Aab (17 goals, 20 assists), Jarod Domingo (13 goals, 14 assists) and the team's unofficial Cy Young winner due to scoring more goals than assists, Braden Bain. (Losing Keller, Hume, Ransom and Gretton) is big and unfortunately no one can replace what those guys did in the league," Bain said. "In saying that, guys in the room know we have to step up and fill those roles as best we can." The Generals also have a change in the leadership corp with as former assistant coach Travis McMillan has stepped up to be the team's fourth head coach in as many seasons. "He's (Travis McMillan) been working us hard and he's a very good coach. Our first practice was a good skate to shake off the rest and just get the flow going at the start," Bain said. "It's just a good way to get the legs and lungs going so the first day was good in that regard. There seems to be a lot of meshing between the veterans and guys coming into the room for the first time which is really nice to see so early into camp." "The guys returning are very excited to get back with the boys and play again. Our strengths will probably be our speed and willingness to compete for everything every night." The Generals finished last season with a record of 24-11-1, good for 49 points which was just one point back of first place Coaldale and second place Okotoks in a very close Southern Division. The team defeated the Medicine Hat Cubs in three games in the first round of the playoffs before bowing out to the Okotoks Bisons in a three game sweep in round two. The fairly short playoff run was disappointing after back-to-back seasons where the team qualified for the league final. The Generals also made it to the Junior B Provincial final in 2016-17, where they won a silver medal after falling to the Wainwright Bisons 5-4 in overtime. Bain said he has some goals set for this season both personally and team wise that he'd like to achieve before the season is all said and done. "Biggest thing for me personally will just be trying to get better throughout the year as I'd like to play college hockey after this year," the Gens forward said confidently. "As a team obviously like the 13 other teams in the league the goal is to win the championship." The team will now finish off the week of practice before jumping into a pair of home-and-home exhibition games against the Mountainview Colts on Sept. 8 and 9 before doing the same thing the following weekend against the Airdrie Techmation Thunder so coaches get a better gauge of the talent level of this year's group. "We want to shake off the rust and get ready to start winning games we can win a championship," Bain said of what his team needs to do in order to be prepared for the regular season at the end of the month. "Teams are going to be flying around trying to get in shape and shake the rust off just like we are. Guys are competing for sports on opening night so it will be physical and fast hockey." The Generals will open up the regular season at home in their new digs at the Cochrane Arena on Sept. 29 against the Mountainview Colts. Puck drop is set to go at 7 p.m.
