Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades. When an errant hand-grenade found the back of the Cochrane Generals net, it landed close enough to detonate Cochrane’s chance at a season-opening win over host Airdrie Thunder.
The fatal defensive clearing attempt ricocheted awkwardly past stunned Gens goalie Mack Chalmers with 3:30 remaining in the Sept. 19 Heritage Junior Hockey League season-opener for both teams. Airdrie won 2-1.
“I thought we carried the play for 60 minutes. I thought we were the better team tonight,” Generals head coach Evan McFeeters remarked outside the dressing room after the game. “All the stuff we worked on in practice worked well. They just got a lucky bounce. We were right in it to the final buzzer. We almost tied it up.”
Missing lead sniper Ian McRae due to a training camp injury (upper body), the Generals fed pucks to the Airdrie net as best they could, but managed just one goal on 41 shots at Thunder goalie Kade Taplin.
“It’s just precautionary,” McFeeters said of McRae’s ailment. “He’s the most talented guy in the league. Once he gets in the lineup he can add maybe a goal or two every game.
“It could be a week, it could be a month. We’re hoping a week.”
Injuries aside, McFeeters has settled on his roster for the 2014-15 Heritage League campaign.
“These are the guys we’re going to go with. We have a couple of injuries right now. Once those guys get back, it will just add some depth to our lineup,” he remarked. “These are the 23 guys we’re heading into the season with.”
The team list includes seven rookies; two on defence and five forwards. Goalies Mac Chalmers and Garrett Iverson appear to have locked down the goaltending spots, with Chalmers starting.
