There are valuable lessons served over the course a junior hockey season.
One of them being you can never “expect” to win.
The Ponoka Stampeders took the Cochrane Generals to school on that lesson, with the Gens earning a passing grade.
Barely.
After filling in the Cubs 6-3 Jan. 23 in Medicine Hat, the Gens marched home Jan. 24 expecting to have their way with the hapless 2-25-6 Stamps, a team riding a 22-game losing streak.
Instead, Cochrane ran into a gob-smack hockey team playing out of its skates – complete with a goalie standing on his ears. It was all the Generals could do to get out alive, keeping their push for a second-place playoff bye intact.
Lesson learned in a 5-4 Heritage Junior Hockey League overtime win at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre. But not before visiting Stamps nearly fed Cochrane its great expectations.
“We beared down when we had to, I guess, and got the job done,” said Gens head coach Evan McFeeters outside a dressing room usually rocking with a blaring boom box and boisterous players after a win. The silence emanating from the room after this one was deafening. “We just learned a lesson. We can’t turn the switch on and off and come over-confident to hockey games and think we’re hot stuff. We figured we were on such a roll we could easily beat a last-place hockey team.
“Kudos to them, they played a great game. Their goalie was on fire and tonight. They deserved to beat our hockey team.”
But Gens managed to pull it out.
Down 4-2 midway through the third period and starting to sag, the Gens got a power-play goal from Chad Harrison. Slater Ransom bagged the tying goal with 1:15 remaining in regulation, setting the table for Talus Hume’s overtime winner with 14 seconds left on the clock.
Matt Kaczur and Dustin Boone netted Cochrane’s other goals against Ponoka.
In Medicine Hat, Colby Chartier (2), Brett Berndt, Kurt Thrussell, Hume and Harrison scored for Cochrane. Mack Chalmers turned aside 36 shots in Cochrane’s goal.
Next home games
Banff Bears (10-21-3, 6th Southern Div.) at Gens (21-10-3, 3rd Southern Div.) Fri., Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Strathmore Wheatland Kings (14-18-3, 5th Southern Div.) at Gens Sat. Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m., Spray Lake Centre
Gens F Talus Hume (2g, 2a in last 2) and Kurt Thrussell (1g, 2a in last 2)
4 (last week, 4)
With another four-point weekend, the Gens closed the gap with 2nd-place Okotoks Bisons (22-10-2) to a single point. Both have locked up a playoff spot, both have played 34 games, but Bisons are still riding herd on the first-round bye. A pair of Gens weekend wins should have Bisons sweating their Feb. 6 date with Cochrane. Level on games played with Okotoks, Cochrane has a legit shot at a second-place playoff bye in the South. Okotoks hosts division-leading Coaldale on Jan. 30. A loss there opens the door for Gens to win their final four games and steal that opening-round bye.
Having nearly shot themselves in the foot against last-place Ponoka, Cochrane won’t be looking past anyone again this season. While Banff Bears are 22 points behind Cochrane in the standings, they are still fighting for the final playoff berth in the South. The Bears are a perennial pain in the rear end for Cochrane and will be bringing an extra helping in their final regular-season tilt against Gens.
Cochrane is 2-1 vs Bears this season, both wins coming by one goal. Gens are 3-0 vs. Strathmore this season.
