The end came early for the Cochrane Generals.
Battle-weary and bruised, they ran out of ammunition before the shooting stopped.
The Banff Academy Bears fired the fatal shot, a 6-2 salvo killing any hope the Generals had of marching deeper into the Heritage Junior Hockey League war.
Eliminated from the assault on the league’s playoff spoils, Cochrane’s fresh recruit to lead this charge was hesitant to review what could have been. Rather, he was proud of his troops’ determination and already planning to reload.
“I just asked them to battle as hard as they could, and they did right to the end,” said Generals rookie head coach Evan McFeeters in a debriefing session outside his team’s foxhole deep inside Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre. “We’re going to have to bring in some players, some more depth next year because we’re going to lose a lot of scoring.
“We want to be a winning organization every, single year.”
His soldiers fought valiantly on frozen battlefields from Medicine Hat to Banff, through the pain of injury. Sniper Ian McRae spent half the campaign marching on one leg, his knee in tatters and now requiring surgery. Reed Boothby’s knee has been buttressed with a brace since Christmas. He’s been missing from action since Jan. 26. Point-man Dustin Ponath considered playing in a cast, but his fractured wrist left him watching the squad’s final push from the crowded M*A*S*H unit. Senior forward Dan Bunnah missed the final month of combat with a separated shoulder.
Through it all McFeeters’s captain, Tyson Soloski, was as reliable as he was relentless in the Generals’ pursuit of victory.
“We didn’t bring it. We had to step it up another gear,” the 21-year-old graduating captain said. “I would have liked to go out with a little bit better season. I still think I could have been better.”
The team’s second-highest shooter this campaign (15 goals, 37 assists in 35 games), Soloski’s transition from hand-to-hand combatant to sniper in his final tour of duty was striking. When McFeeters insisted he curb his “non-hockey” plays, the gritty forward pinned that demand to his uniform like a badge. He was penalized 100 fewer minutes this season than last.
“I wish I could have 150 penalty minutes,” Soloski admitted. “If I could, I’d probably fight in half the games. “I like playing that way. I feel I get more involved in the game that way.”
Defeated but unbowed, the Generals rejoin the Heritage League for an autumn offensive, mounting a new campaign minus graduating soldiers Soloski, Bunnah and leading sniper Andrew Bergmann (27 goals, 27 assists in 31 tilts).
A string of fresh recruits baptized by fire in the absence of injured regulars this season will be thrust into front-line duty next. No fewer than 10 newbies will be relied upon for greater fire-power next year.
Given time to regroup, a fresh war awaits the Generals in the fall.
