The first half of the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) season has come and gone and the Cochrane Generals are right in the thick of jockeying for their position in a very tight Southern Division. The Gens currently sit in third place with a 16-7-2 record, good for 34 points which places them just behind the Coaldale Copperheads and Okotoks Bisons. Some people might have had this season as a rebuilding year for Cochrane as they lost key 21-year-olds in forwards Talus Hume and Slater Ransom as well as defencemen Austin Keller and Will Gretton, who combined for just under 50 per cent of the Generals offence last season. The foursome accumulated a total of 198 points between them. The rebuild may be true with this team, but they haven't shown it in their record and play throughout the first half of the season. This feature story will be grading each position for the Generals based on their play in the first half with the team looking to continue the good fortunes into the New Year. GOALTENDING - B+ The Generals have three strong goaltenders on their team in Robert Michetti, Erik Garber and Knute Loe. Garber missed the first few weeks of the season with an ankle injury but has since come back and posted sparkling numbers. He has gone 7-2 so far this season with a 2.82 goals-against-average and .913 save percentage along with a shut out. Loe carried the bulk of the load for Cochrane early on in the season, and while his numbers don't come across as great with a 4-6 record and 3.59 goals-against-average, a lot of that came when the Generals were struggling to find offence. Loe has proven he can steal games for his club such as a 34-save performance in a 2-1 overtime loss on Nov. 8 against Okotoks where he almost single-handedly saved the Gens a point with his play. Michetti has also been good in goal for Cochrane even with him bouncing around between his junior 'A' team in Drumheller and junior 'B' team here in Cochrane. He has gone 5-1 in somewhat limited action with a very nice looking 1.96 goals-against-average and registering three shutouts in his five wins. Cochrane will need all three goaltenders down the stretch should they be in contention for first place in the division. DEFENCE - A- The Generals defence is young and while they showed signs of struggling a bit early on, they've really caught their stride in the last month-and-a-half. The team has given up 75 goals over 25 games, averaging out to three a game but since Nov. 2 they've held their opponents to under three goals 11 times, which resulting in nine victories. Ryan Davis leads the team's defence in scoring with five goals and 17 points in 22 games. As a whole, the group has combined for 54 points taking a "score-by-committee" approach as opposed to relying on one or two guys from the back end to provide offence. FORWARDS - A The loss of Hume and Ransom seemed like the Generals had a pretty tall task ahead of them looking to replace a combined 61 goals and 138 points. The team has done that with five forwards recording more than a point per game in Braden Bain (34 points), Harry Osler (30 points), Chris Sambrook (26 points), River Ross (25 points) and Jordan Fisher (20 points). While the team isn't relying on one or two star players to produce, they have found offence from all four lines which has resulted in 128 goals for an average of just over five per game, which is currently a higher pace than the 4.8 goals-per-game last season. Newcomers Takuro Okada, Ben Davidson, Vance Wesley and Caylin Wildman have all brought speed, skill and a balance to all four lines, proving they can put the puck in the net with the best of them. "I'm happy with where we're at, but I'm a little surprised if anything to be honest. Looking at our roster of returning players in the off-season in June and July, we kind of took a look at our roster and we as a coaching staff weren't totally sure how we were going to do," head coach Travis McMillan said. "I didn't know if we'd have enough depth to pull off all of the wins that we have so far with some obvious big wins against Red Deer, Okotoks and Coaldale, those are extremely important and I didn't know if we were going to steal any wins from those respective teams. But the guys we brought in have done a hell of a job creating some depth ... guys like River Ross, Vance Wesley, Harry Osler is stepping up in the absence of Brandon Aab, Braden Bain is doing a fantastic job. I'm more surprised but I am very happy with what the guys have accomplished thus far and hopefully we can continue it going into the New Year."
