The finish line is in sight.
Cochrane Generals had a stellar weekend as the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) regular season goes into its final week.
The league’s first-place team claimed back-to-back nail-biters against Strathmore Wheatland Kings and Coaldale Copperheads to maintain their slim, four-point division lead over Okotoks Bisons.
On Jan. 29, Gens hosted Wheatland Kings (13-20-2, 4th Southern Division) at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
Gens were given a scare early on as the visitors took a 1-0 lead through Jacen Bracko going into the second period. The home side scored a power-play goal through veteran forward Chad Harrison (unassisted) to level things, before George King (Logan Brown assisting) continued his scoring streak to put the home side up 2-1.
Wheatland Kings leveled things up with a goal from Brennan Fuoco, before Harrison (Slater Ransom with the helper) grabbed his second power-play goal of the game, and Connor Rendell added an unassisted goal for Gens to go 4-2 up. The visitors added a third (Chris Williams) with one minute left in the second, making it anyone’s game going into the final period.
Goals from Brenden Moore (power-play) and Hayden Vanderploeg shocked Gens as the visitors took a 5-4 lead, but the home team bounced back admirably.
Corey Goeson (King and Austin Keller picking up assists) grabbed one back with just under 13 minutes to go, before Ransom (Harrison and Rendell with helpers) bagged a power-play goal seven minutes later as Gens held on for the 6-5 win despite a late Wheatland Kings onslaught.
“We were happy with the performance,” said Gens head coach Evan McFeeters. “It was an emotional game, and there was a lot riding on it for both teams. We needed a point to stay above Okotoks.
“Every game from here on out is going to be tight checking and Strathmore has got a hard-nosed hockey club, so it was a back and forth game.
“Despite them scoring five goals, we had control of the game, and were never really tested other than having to hold the fort late on.”
Gens travelled to Coaldale on Jan. 30 to face the Copperheads (25-9-2, 3rd Southern Division) in a game that would test the Cochrane team to their limits.
Gens drew first blood through a power-play goal from Talus Hume (Goeson and Keller assisting) before Copperheads evened things up through Austin Huculak going into the second period.
Copperheads took the lead less than two minutes into the second with Dillon Collett scoring.
Gens equalized through the ever-reliable Harrison (Brett Berndt helping) to make it 2-2.
From there the rest of the period was a Copperheads blowout as they put three unanswered goals past Gens goalie Ty Robinson (Craig Lyon, Huculak nabbing his second, and Dustin Houghton all scoring).
Gens’ never say die attitude paid off in the third, as they fought back to a 5-5 game thanks to goals from Goeson and Ransom (Hume, Rendell, and Berndt all assisting) to force a shootout.
The visitors took the shootout 2-1 thanks to goals from Hume and Harrison, to give Gens the 6-5 overtime win, and two hard-fought points.
“I would chalk the win up to being the game of the season for our club,” said McFeeters.
“The way the boys battled back after being down inside the Snake Pit where there was over 1,000 people was amazing.
“It was very rewarding to see that as a coach.”
The back-to-back wins mean that Gens now only need a point from their last two regular-season games to clinch first-place overall in the HJHL, and home ice advantage in the playoffs.
As luck would have it, their remaining games are at home against Copperheads (Feb. 5) and Wheatland Kings (Feb. 6).
“We basically have the same weekend as the last one, except flopped around,” McFeeters said.
“We only need one point to clinch first overall, so we’re looking to do that against Coaldale.
“Going into the game last weekend with Copperheads, we were approaching it as a six-period battle with them and we got through the first three periods, so far, so good for our team. We got the two points and now we’ve got another three periods against one of the top teams in the league.”
How important does McFeeters think home ice advantage will be for these last two games?
“It’s massive,” he said.
“The goal at the start of the year was to get a bye in the first round of the playoffs, and we’ve accomplished that. Then, our second goal was to try and win the division, and we have a chance to do that Friday night.
“If you look at our home record, we’ve played very well all season.
“It’s important that we come out with a playoff mentality, and go on to clinch.”
Next games
Friday, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre: Coaldale Copperheads (25-9-2, 3rd Southern Division) at Gens.
Saturday, Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre: Strathmore Wheatland Kings (13-20-2, 4th Southern Division) at Gens.
Goalies Ty Robinson and McKenzie Chalmers have been crucial to Gens’ recent 8-0-2 run, and were both exceptional over the weekend with Chalmers stopping 28 out of 33 shots against Wheatland Kings, and Robinson stopping 32 out of 37 against Copperheads. Robinson’s overall GAA is 3.19 with Chalmers’ at 2.85.
Forward Colton Wong has failed to score in Gens’ last three games. So far this year, he has recorded nine points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 24 games.
It’s going down to the wire as to who will end the regular season as the team’s top points leader. Slater Ransom (22 goals, 30 assists)and Talus Hume (19 goals, 33 assists) are currently tied with 52 points each (Ransom has played 31 games, Hume 33). Connor Rendell comes in at third with 45 points (22 goals, 23 assists) in 30 games.
Gens have scored 184 goals so far this season, the fourth-highest total in the league after Copperheads (205), Okotoks Bisons (196), and Mountainview Colts. They have only conceded 106 (the lowest in the league), to give them a total goal difference of +78, the second-highest in the HJHL after Bisons (+84).
Gens were 5-0 against Kings last season (4-0 this season). 1-3 against Copperheads last season, and 2-1 this year.
