The Cochrane Generals playoff season hangs in the balance tonight.
The Rocky Rams lead the seven-game series 3-2 after clinching another win at the Cochrane Arena last night.
The Gens were down one but bounced back with five minutes left in the second period to respond to Rocky's goal on a power play at the end of the first. Rocky then took the lead again at the end of the second, also on a power play.
Responding to an early third-period goal from the Rams, Cochrane's Tristan Ripplinger, assisted by Andrew Guss and Jordan Marks, brought the game back within one with just over 10 minutes left. Any chance of evening out the scoreboard was crushed with an empty netter by Rams Tristan Hoffus, bringing the final score to 4-2 in the last 30 seconds.
Rams centre Caleb Andrew said he feels his team did a good job of sticking to their game plan to keep the puck in deep and pressure Cochrane's defence.
"We waited for them to make mistakes so that we could capitalize on them," he said. "The boys made sure that we capitalized on our opportunities tonight."
The two teams are set to butt heads again in Rocky Mountain House later for Game 6 of the Heritage Junior Hockey League north semifinal.
If the Rams win, it means the end of Cochrane's playoff run. If the Gens win, Game 7 will determine who moves on.
Andrew said it's been a great playoff series so far and they've enjoyed playing the Gens, but the more they play, the more they've started to figure the team out.
"Cochrane is definitely a team where they can build on the energy and they just keep rolling on it," he said. "When they get a few on ya, they stay up and they just keep bringing on the pressure.
"But I find that also goes the other way. If you can get a quick one on them, they can get down and start to drift away from their game play, and that helps us."
Rams head coach Wendall Mason said he gives credits to the Gens and their 4-0 record over the Rams in the regular season.
"They're a highly skilled team, very good on the front end," he said. "I think they like to shy away from the physical game so we can play that game on them if we have to a little bit. You've got to play to your strengths and eliminate the mistakes."
It also doesn't hurt to have a goaltender who loves playing under pressure, he added.
Zaiden Hansen has been in control of the net for most of the Rams playoff run. Last night, he blocked 33 shots, in Game 3 he blocked 40 over Cochrane's two goals and in Game 2 he blocked 59 shots, also over two goals.
"He's got a light switch when it comes to playoffs," said Mason.
While Generals head coach Kurtis Jones said he respects the Rams level of commitment in working hard and playing to their strengths, he knows Cochrane has what it takes to overcome.
"Today is a new day," he said. "The pressure is on us to pull these guys out of the water, but you still have to win four games out of the series. We're gonna go in tonight and do what we have to do.
"We skate. We're a good, hard skating team. One of the fastest teams in the league and we could skate you into the ground if we really wanted to, but we still have to work at certain areas and we're gonna do that tonight."
The puck drops at Rocky Arena Complex at 8:30 p.m.
