The Cochrane Generals are getting closer to fine. But they aren’t there yet.
After defeating Okotoks Bisons 3-2 Jan. 16 in Cochrane, Gens were defeated a third time this season by the Copperheads, 5-1, Jan. 17 in Coaldale.
The weekend provided Generals head coach Evan McFeeters a gauge on how his team stacks up against the top-2 teams in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s Southern Division. The Gens’ win was their first against Bisons since Jan. 18 last year and moved Cochrane within three points of second-place Okotoks in the South.
“If we had any chance at second place we had to come up with two points and give them nothing,” McFeeters said outside the dressing room following the Okotoks tilt.
With one regular-season meeting remaining between the two, the implication of the Jan. 16 loss in Cochrane was not lost on Bisons head coach Mike Hannigan.
“I think this makes the run for the playoffs a little tighter between us and them. It should be interesting,” Hannigan related. “We have one more game against them, the second-last game of the year, which could come down to who gets second place. Second’s a bye. Pretty important. Gives you an extra week off to get ready for playoffs.”
The game had a playoff feel to it as the teams played it close throughout. Cochrane’s speed was the difference, as wave after wave of Gens forwards wheeled around the outside of Okotoks’s defence. It was Okotoks’s second game since the holiday break.
“They looked a little faster than us tonight, for sure,” Hannigan observed.
The Gens took a 2-0 lead on goals from Chad Harrison and Slater Ransom, with Okotoks getting a pair of goals from Mark McLeod to tie. Corey Goeson netted the game winner in the third period.
“They’re a veteran team. Provincial champions last year. There’s no panic on that bench,” McFeeters said of Okotoks. “If we’re up 3-0 or 1-0, they still play the same way. They are a very good hockey team. But tonight we proved so are we.
“That’s a team above us in the standings. If we have any hope of catching them now to get that bye, we have to win. But we also need to get that confidence that we can beat teams like Okotoks, Airdrie and Coaldale on any given night. It’s not going to take our perfect game, but it’s just going to be us showing up and playing our game and we can still win.”
Cochrane, obviously, didn’t bring its best game to Coaldale in its 5-1 Jan. 17 loss. It was the fourth and final regular-season meeting between the South Division leaders and Cochrane, with Coaldale claiming a 3-1 edge.
Connor Rendell got the Gens lone goal against Copperheads in a game featuring 90 penalty minutes.
Sat., Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Ponoka Stampeders (2-25-4, 7th Northern Div.)
at Gens (19-10-3, 3rd Southern Div.)
Gens F Connor Rendell (goal, assist in last two games). Whether providing energy on a line with Reed Boothby and Patrick Dove or lighting lamps on the power play, Rendell’s versatility and productivity are netting results.
4 (last week, 5)
Gens’ potential is showing on the scoresheet, with two wins in their last three games coming against teams higher in the standings (Airdrie, Okokoks). South Division-leading Coaldale has Cochrane’s number, though, going 3-1 in the season series. If Gens get that far, they will most likely have to go through Coaldale to get to the league final.
Still smarting from the Jan. 17 Coaldale loss, Cochrane has to reload for 17-15-2 division-foe Medicine Hat (Jan. 23 in Medicine Hat) and struggling Ponoka. These teams pose a larger threat than anyone above in the standings simply because stumbling over teams like this can nuke a team’s chemistry faster than you can say mad scientist. Staying on task, and on target, will be key for Generals this weekend.
With the Jan. 10 roster deadline gone, rookie revelation Steven Tisdale’s upper-body injury couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. The one-man forechecking gang wasn’t available for duty Jan. 16-17 and his absence was notable, particularly in the Coaldale tilt. As well as getting under the skin of opposing defenders, the six-foot forward has contributed two goals and 10 assists this season. The 18-year-old’s absence leaves a sizable gap in the Gens’ forward ranks.
