Coaches have their go-to guys – players they throw into any situation expecting positive results.
Most recently, Cochrane Generals head coach Evan McFeeters’s go-to guy is Talus Hume, as the 18-year-old forward is making his coach look good.
Hume has sniped the winning goals in Cochrane’s last two overtime tilts; Jan. 24 vs. visiting Ponoka and Jan. 31 vs. visiting Strathmore.
The kid is hot. And the coach is basking in the heat.
“He’s a clutch hockey player. It starts from his own end all the way down,” McFeeters says of the top-line forward who wears his dad’s (Wally Hume), sweater number. Wearing No. 19, Wally was the Gens’ go-to guys as the team’s captain in the early 1990s. “He’s reliable,” McFeeters continues of the young Hume. “He’s a prototypical hockey player. He leaves everything on the ice.”
For his part, Talus Hume is ensuring he earns the quality minutes tossed his way. He leads the team in points with 16 goals and 24 assists in 36 games.
“I just like to work hard. If you work hard the whole game it will eventually come to you,” the young Hume relates. “You just have to be persistent.”
Persistence is Cochrane’s calling card right now. Generals pulled four wins out of the fire in January, rallying for victories from behind. Hume’s been right in the middle of it.
“He gets rewarded at the right times. It’s good to see,” McFeeters says. “I can’t take him off the ice in overtime. He is our guy. He can shoot the puck and he also sees the ice well.”
The player is thriving under the stress of the demands and expectations from his coach.
“It’s a good confident boost for sure,” Hume says.
