You win one. You lose one. So it goes for the Cochrane Generals.
Struggling to score goals, the team is leaning heavily on its defence and goaltending to pull out wins early in the Heritage Junior Hockey League season.
The formula worked in a 3-2 Oct. 17 shootout win over the Mountain View Colts in Didsbury. But it failed the Gens in a 3-0 home loss Oct. 18 to the Okotoks Bisons, who came in riding a four-game losing skid.
“They’ve won four championships in a row. If they’re on a slump like that it’s going to end soon,” Gens assistant coach Dan Gendur said outside the dressing room following the loss to Bisons. “They came out and played well and we came out flat.”
Gendur wasn’t using a road game the night before in Didsbury as an excuse for Cochrane’s flagging firepower against Okotoks.
“It’s not like we got home at 3 in the morning or anything like that,” he assessed. “It’s only an hour’s drive. We’re not a team that makes excuses. We go out there expecting to win every game.”
Gens forward Slater Ransom left the Didsbury game with an injury and did not suit up for the Saturday-nighter against Okotoks, carving another hole in Cochrane’s thinning forward ranks.
“It’s tough to lose a player like Slater, but it gives guys chances to step up and assume the role,” Gendur insisted.
Kurt Thrussell and Corey Goeson scored in regulation for Cochrane against Mountain View. Thrussell and Talus Hume scored in the overtime shootout, securing the victory. Mack Chalmers kicked out 51 shots.
