The Cochrane Generals split a pair of games against tough division rivals in their bid to shake off an uninspired first half of the Heritage Junior Hockey League season.
The Generals bounced back from a 6-3 Dec. 14 road loss to the Okotoks Bisons with a 6-4 win over the visiting Coaldale Copperheads Dec. 16 at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
The Generals are now within striking range of both Strathmore and Medicine Hat, teams directly above them in the standings they play next on the road.
Sunday’s home tilt against Coaldale was just the bounce-back Generals head coach Ken Soloski was looking for.
“They’re ahead of us in the standings and they’re a tough team so we had to come out and play well,” Soloski said. “We played well enough.”
Penalties were a concern.
“We were a little undisciplined,” he emphasized as his son Tyson, who got in a spirited scrap with Kaden Odland, poked his head out the dressing-room door.
Still, the Generals beat a team that had beaten them twice this season. And it was a better result than two nights prior in Okotoks.
