The Cochrane Generals ended November the way they started. With a win in another team’s rink.
Cochrane downed host Ponoka Stampeders 5-3 in Heritage Junior Hockey League play Nov. 30 for the team’s sixth win of the month. The Gens picked up 13 of a possible 14 points from seven November games. A scheduled Nov. 28 matchup with Strathmore was postponed due to really, really bad weather (-40 windchill with two feet of snow falling in a sideways blizzard. Really).
While the Generals secured the two points in Ponoka, Cochrane head coach Evan McFeeters’s assessment of his team’s performance was somewhat muted.
“We pride ourselves on our defensive play,” McFeeters stressed. “A team that’s struggling to score goals against every team in the league so far this year, we allowed them to claw back and make the game closer than it should have been.
“If we want to be a contender in the league like we truly believe we can be, we have to be able to shut those teams down.”
Still, all the signs of success currently point at Cochrane. The team continues to pour goals into opposition nets, totally reversing an early-season goal drought.
Connor Rendell (2 goals, 2 assists), Talus Hume (2) and defenceman Craig Packard scored for Cochrane in Ponoka.
“It’s always tough to go up there on a Sunday afternoon knowing they’ve been struggling this year,” McFeeters observed of the Stampeders. “There wasn’t too much energy in the building, being Grey Cup Sunday and all.
“We got the job done. We got the two points, but it wasn’t our best effort of the year. We’re trying to really focus on what it takes to be successful and reaching our peak.”
There was a time McFeeters would have been more than happy to take a 5-3 win, regardless. Not any more.
“Our expectations have changed in the last month and a half here. We’re not content winning 5-3 against teams we can win 4- or 5-0 against. Sunday afternoon was not one of our prettiest efforts of the year.
“But we got away with it.”
Fri. Dec. 5
Red Deer
Vipers
(7-10-1),
5th North Div.
at Generals
(11-5-3),
4th Southern Division
7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Sat. Dec. 6
High River Flyers
(8-13-0),
6th South Division
at Generals
7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Who’s hot?
Gens D Craig Packard (scored another pp goal Nov. 30 in Ponoka). Gens Fs Connor Rendell and Talus Hume (2 g each in Ponoka).
Who’s not?
Vipers rookie D Kelsey Katchuik (0g, 0a in 13); Flyers F Kaleb Burnett, 0g, 2a, 37 PIM in 19)
Gens Power Ranking
4 (last week, 5)
Christmas is coming
All the Generals want for Christmas is a season of Novembers. After stumbling through October with a pop-gun offence (2.5 goals a game, 3-4-2 record), Gens erupted in November winning six and losing one, 3-2 in overtime, to Okotoks. Cochrane averaged six goals a game while allowing three per over the month.
New recruit
Drumheller Dragons forward Chad Harrison is the latest homebrew returning to Cochrane. After adding Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) Calgary Mustangs forward Colby Chartier last month, the Gens are piling on with the addition of Harrison, a Cochrane Minor Hockey product who had two goals and two assists in 17 games as an AJHL rookie in Drumheller. The 5-foot-9, 17-year-old forward is expected to slot into a top-6 forward role in Friday’s game against Red Deer.
Movember still rising
Blown out of their Movember promotional “Mo Game” by the Nov. 28 blizzard, the Gens are working on a makeup date for the postponed Strathmore game. But the team’s “Mo Game” promo is a go Dec. 5 vs. Red Deer. The team has raised $980 so far in its Movember promotion, growing moustaches to raise awareness for men’s health, and wants to add to that total through fan contributions and 50-50 ticket proceeds from the Dec. 5 game. Given the team’s overall success in Movember, keep the ‘staches. Go to www.cochranegenerals.com or the Gens’ Facebook page to contribute to their Movember movement.
Head-to-head
Cochrane lost 3-2 in overtime at Red Deer on Oct. 25 and is 1-1 against South Div. rival High River.
Making a list, checking it twice
Cochrane crams seven games into December, four at home and three on the road. In fourth place in the HJHL’s Southern Division, Cochrane is one point behind Strathmore Wheatland Kings with three games in hand. December’s games involve four teams with weaker records (Red Deer, High River, Mountainview, Banff) and three (Strathmore, Blackfalds, Coaldale) stronger teams. With the season just past the halfway point, December will largely determine where the Gens’ march is headed this season.
