All the Cochrane Generals are getting for Christmas is a lump of coal in their stockings, complements of the Coaldale Copperheads.
The visiting Copperheads dropped the Gens 7-2 in Heritage Junior Hockey League play, Cochrane’s final game prior to Christmas and the New Year. It was Cochrane’s third game in as many nights, but head coach Evan McFeeters wasn’t giving any excuses. The Generals were defeated 11-8 by visiting Mountain View Colts on Dec. 19 before going to Banff and blanking the Bears 1-0.
“We had high hopes for the weekend,” McFeeters said outside the dressing room after the Coaldale tilt. “Going into the break we wanted to set ourselves up for the stretch. We kind of dropped the ball this weekend.”
It started with a wild, fire-wagon loss to Mountain View. Gens starting goalie Mack Chalmers fought the puck, stopping 16 of 22 shots in 40 minutes before giving way to backup Garrett Iverson, who gave up four more on 10 shots in the third period. Chad Harrison poured in two goals and an assist for Cochrane against Mountain View. Austin Keller, Steven Tisdale, Corey Goeson, Talus Hume, Colby Chartier and Kurt Thrussell also scored for Cochrane.
The Gens then marched into Banff and earned their first shutout of the season in the 1-0 win. Iverson turned aside 34 shots and Harrison bagged the goal.
Then South Division-leading Coaldale came to town and walked out with two points.
“We gave them too much respect to start with,” Gens captain Chris Hugo said of the Coaldale tilt. Cochrane spotted the Copperheads four goals before getting on the scoresheet. “We knew they were a top team and we were intimidated by them to start with.”
By the end Cochrane was totally unintimidated, taking nine third-period penalties against the bigger team. Keller and Hume got the goals for Cochrane against Coaldale. Gens break for the holidays before opening the stretch drive Jan. 4 against Strathmore Wheatland Kings.
