Sometimes, that holiday hibernation can catch up to you.
The 10-day Christmas break nearly caught Cochrane Generals, but visiting Strathmore Wheatland Kings delivered the perfect wakeup call in Heritage Junior Hockey League play Jan 4. Skating in a rescheduled game for the Nov. 28 snowed-out date at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, Cochrane was on cruise control leading 3-1 with five minutes remaining in the third period.
Three quick goals by Strathmore put the Gens on high alert, scrambling to tie the game in the final minute. Chad Harrison’s goal at 19:15 put the game into overtime, where Connor Rendell sniped the winner with 37 seconds left. The hectic 5-4 overtime win may be what Gens players need to wrap their heads around the significance of their final 11 regular-season games, nine more coming this month.
“It just turned into a bit of pond hockey at the end,” Generals head coach Evan McFeeters assessed outside the team’s dressing room following the game. “We failed to lock it down, which we talked about in the room.
“The play in the third period, we were scrambling and taking shortcuts. I think it has to do with the break. For whatever reason, we just didn’t have it in the third period.”
Following two reasonably-paced periods, both teams appeared content to sleep-skate through the final 20 minutes. But Graham Watkins’s goal at 15:23 lit a fire under Strathmore, resulting in two more pucks past Gens rookie starter Ty Robinson. Bewildered, the Generals regrouped, pulling Robinson for an extra attacker in the final minute. The strategy paid as Harrison pulled the trigger on the game’s tying goal. McFeeters lauded his troops for pushing back. But, ultimately, he’d rather his team not scramble for wins – particularly when leading in the third period.
“We want to play a tighter game,” he said. “Rather than give up late goals, we want to be able to put in the late goal and put the game out of reach for the other team. We want to be able to bury teams.”
The game marked the return of injured winger Slater Ransom, who was spotted at centre on a line with Connor Rendell.
“With Ransom at centre, it just gives us so much more depth down the middle,” McFeeters said.
Harrison (2), Rendell (2) and Colby Chartier scored for Cochrane. Robinson kicked out 42 shots in Gens goal.
Cochrane Generals forward Chad Harrison is the HJHL rookie of the month for December.
Harrison, 17, scored eight goals and added three assists in five games during the month, including a three-goal, two-assist effort Dec. 5 against Red Deer in his first game for Cochrane after coming over from the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Drumheller Dragons.
The Cochrane Minor Hockey product sits second in the HJHL with a 2.20 points-per-game average.
Fri., Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Coaldale Copperheads (24-5-1, 1st Southern Div.) at Gens (16-8-3, 3rd Southern Div.)
Sat. Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Airdrie Thunder (17-8-2, 2nd Northern Div.) at Generals
Gens F Chad Harrison. Since arriving from the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons on Dec. 5, Harrison has racked up 10g and 6a in six games. The 17-year-old was named the Heritage League’s rookie of the month for December.
5 (last week, 5)
Gens nearly paid for taking their foot off the gas against Strathmore to open 2015. With Cochrane leading 3-1 deep in the third period of the Jan. 4 tilt, both teams appeared to be going through the motions before Wheatland Kings bagged three quick goals to take a 4-3 lead. A score with the goalie pulled less than 60 seconds from the regulation buzzer, and a late OT winner, put the Gens back in the driver’s seat. But it took an alarming wakeup call for Cochrane to get the message. No word yet on the dressing room requiring a new coat of paint after that one.
Missing half the season with injuries, Gens forward Slater Ransom and defenceman Matt Dunne return to active duty. Having served a one-game suspension for his part in a late altercation in the Dec. 21 Coaldale tilt, veteran d-man Craig Packard also mounts up for Gens in their weekend home pair.
Cochrane is 1-1 against Coaldale this season, winning 4-3 in OT on the road Sept 28 and losing 7-2 at home Dec. 21 to close out 2014. Cochrane is 0-1 vs. Airdrie, losing the Sept. 19 season-opener 2-1 in Airdrie.
