There’s a fairly large hole in the Cochrane Generals lineup right now.
At 6-foot-3, 180 pounds, it’s hard to miss.
So when leading scorer Andrew Bergmann was a no show for Cochrane’s 3-1 loss to the visiting Airdrie Thunder on Feb. 1, head coach Evan McFeeters was forced to juggle his lineup to compensate for the missing sniper who is nursing a lower back injury. Bergmann has 25 goals and 23 assists in 28 games.
“It’s a week-to-week thing. It’s tough to lose our leading scorer,” said McFeeters, who’s been dealing with player injuries all season. Defenceman Dustin Ponath is out with a broken wrist, top forwards Ian McRae and Reed Boothby are basically skating on one leg while fighting through serious knee ailments. “But we have to move forward. We work our power play a lot through Bergmann and when we’re missing a big piece of our offence, we’re looking for other guys to step up. We’re trying new things on the power play, but tonight we couldn’t find the back of the net.”
The team is just trying to hold it together enough to secure a playoff spot in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s Southern Division. Cochrane has four regular-season games remaining, including a makeup game with Medicine Hat which was postponed in November for bad weather.
Without Bergmann, who’s time frame for a return to playing is unknown, McFeeters is scouring his coaching manual for ideas on how to compensate for the loss of his team’s most productive point-getter.
“We already discussed it after the game about finding different ways to score,” McFeeters related. “We’re going to try and get our defence more involved. They’ve all got good shots. They’ve been staying back and playing pretty passive this year. Now we’re at the point of the season where we might have to just out-score the opponent. Instead of winning 3-2, why not win 6-4 now.”
The Gens were solid against Airdrie. Goalie McKenzie Chalmers made 22 saves, with two of Airdrie’s goals coming on deflections in front of the net and the other on an Ashton Sheen breakaway right out of the penalty box.
“I told the boys afterwards, everyone was disappointed, but I was proud of their effort.
“No one quit.”
Tyson Soloski scored the Cochrane goal with assists to Jaydan Gordon and McRae.
The Gens host Three Hills Thrashers on Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. puck drop, at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
