“The last 38 games don’t matter now.”
With that, Cochrane Generals assistant coach Dan Gendur dismissed his team’s best Heritage Junior Hockey League regular-season finish since 2009 as a mere formality.
The Gens had just defeated visiting Medicine Hat Cubs 6-4 Feb. 7 at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, capping an emphatic reload campaign in which Cochrane finished 25-10-3, good for second place in the Southern Division and third in the league.
This from a 15-win team failing to make the playoffs last season. That the Generals went 10-2 down the stretch, defeating four-time defending league-champion Okotoks Bisons twice in the final month of the campaign, didn’t sway Gendur.
Generals head coach Evan McFeeters echoed Gendur’s sentiments.
Mission accomplished. Next.
“We want to peak at the right time. We think we’re almost there,” McFeeters said outside his team’s dressing room following the Cubs game. “We do have some work to do. We’re not perfect, obviously. We don’t want to give up four goals in a game, ever. When we go to the playoffs, we want to shore up our defensive zone. Start with that. Our offence has shown it can take care of itself as long as our guys continue to stick to the attention to details and do the little things right.”
Cochrane’s 2014-15 season has been a study in attention to detail and doing little things right. From their tentative first 12 games in Sept-Oct. (5-5-2), to schooling opponents down the stretch (10-2), Gens have fashioned a details-oriented team that can beat you around the rink in a firefight, in a defensive struggle or at the buzzer with the goalie pulled.
Last year, McFeeters’s first as Gens head coach, Cochrane found ways to lose. This year Gens are finding ways to win. The about-face has been as acute as lightning-quick.
“After last season, we built a team to win in the future, and I guess the future is now,” McFeeters said. “So we’re going to take advantage of the bed we’ve made ourselves.”
The bed McFeeters mentioned is a first-round playoff bye and home-ice advantage when first-round winners come calling. But Gens won’t be napping in that bed or holidaying in Mexico in the meantime.
“Coaches will be doing the game film and preparing. We have three practices prior to our first game, hopefully,” McFeeters said. “Then we’ll find out who we’re playing. We’re just focussing basically on what we have to do as a team to get better.”
In the regular-season finale, Talus Hume scored twice and added an assist for Cochrane. Chad Harrison had three assists, Brett Berndt and Slater Ransom a goal and an assist each, with Dustin Ponath and Patrick Dove adding singles. Ty Robinson turned aside 29 shots in goal.
25 - number of Gens wins. Best since 2008-09, Cochrane’s last league-championship season
7 - number of Gens OT wins.
3 - number of Gens OT losses. The team was preparing for playoffs early with 6 OT contests in HJHL’s first six weeks and 10 OT contests total in 2014-15
2 - Gens final placing in Southern Div. with 25-10-3 record
148 - goals for (3.89 per game)
132 - goals against (3.47 per game)
+16 - Gens goal differential for the season
1.88 - average margin of victory in Cochrane’s 25 wins
2.38 - average margin of loss in Cochrane’s 13 losses (including OTL)
1 - number of Gens in HJHL Top-20 scoring (Talus Hume, 20th, 19-26-45 in 38 games)
943 - combined number of shots goalies Ty Robinson and Mack Chalmers faced
852 - combined number of saves they made
3.30 - Cochrane’s goals-against average for the season, 4th best in league
3 - number of goalies Gens carried to Jan. 10 roster deadline. Garrett Iverson compiled a 7-5 record with 3.43 GAA before the roster-deadline crunch squeezed him out
107 - total number of man-games lost to injury and suspensions
16 - number of times Corey (4th line, muck & grind) Goeson scored filling in for top-6 snipers
2 - number of Alberta Junior Hockey League players (Colby Chartier and Chad Harrison) who enlisted mid-season to play for their home squad
6 - Cochrane’s win streak to end regular season (league best)
24 - number of goals scored by Gens defencemen. Craig Packard filled in opposing goalies for 10 snipes. Austin Keller sniped 7, Dustin Ponath 5 and the Matts, Kaczur and Dunne, 1 apiece.
