The Cochrane Generals were eliminated last night after a 4-2 loss to the Coaldale Copperheads in Game five of the third-round of the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) series.
Coaldale had the Gens on the ropes winning the first three games 5-2, 3-1 and 4-2, the latter in dramatic fashion on March 9. The Generals took a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Scott Shugg in the first period and Braden Bain midway through the third before Coaldale scored four unanswered goals in the final four minutes of the contest to stun Cochrane and take a stranglehold on the series with a 3-0 lead.
Game 4 took place the following day, which played into Coaldale's favour early in the game with the Generals still seemingly stunned by the loss the night before. Brandon Aab opened the scoring early in the second period, but the first-place Copperheads quickly responded with four goals of their own, giving them a 4-1 lead with just under 15 minutes left to play in the game. Craziness ensued in the final portion of the game as Caden Chudleigh and Chris Sambrook made it a 4-3 game before Aab scored his second and third goals to give the Generals a one goal lead with 1:41 remaining in the game. The lead would only last 16 seconds before another flurry took place with Coaldale tying up the game at 5-5 before Braden Bain potted his second of the game with 44 seconds remaining to give Cochrane the 6-5 victory while keeping them alive in the series.
"It really does come down to playing full 60 minute games. The game prior to Game 4, we were up 2-0 in the final four minutes and decided to slack off a little which resulted in Coaldale capitalizing on our miscues and mistakes," said Generals head coach Travis McMillan. "That being said, jumping into Game 4 we were down 4-1 with just under eight minutes left, we got an untimely penalty which led to a shorthanded goal from Caden (Chudleigh) and then Brandon Aab popped out of the box and scored shortly after that. It kind of snowballed after that with us winning 6-5. Mental errors are going to cost us this series."
With the last two games having wild third period finishes, McMillan said he had a theory as to why those games went that way.
"In the last 10 minutes of that third period, we had some structure break downs that were very key and quite noticeable and Coaldale capitalized on those. What we've got to do in order to win the next games, is make sure everyone is on the same page and aware of what we're doing on and off the ice and what we can do better," he said.
"The regular season means nothing when you get to the playoffs," McMillan said. "Case in point with Medicine Hat taking Coaldale to seven games even though they (Medicine Hat) finished 22 points behind them in the regular season."
McMillan added he knew going into Coaldale with the Copperhaeads up was going to be a challenge.
"They have a fantastic crowd and their community is very strong behind their organization and I've been saying all regular season and playoffs that having such a good fan base is a factor ... they bring an energy to the home team every time they step on the ice .. if we don't win, then that reflects on our play as well, hopefully it works out for us and we're ready for the remainder of the series."
Coaldale will now face the Airdrie Thunder in the finals.
