Generals defeat Copperheads to remain undefeated

The Generals were back at home Friday night to take on the Coaldale Copperheads. It is only the 4^thgame of the season and the injury bug has already hit the Generals dressing room. With regulars Spencer Sobie and Gideon Neufeld out, the Generals were looking for rookie defensemen Dylan Bowerman, Ty McKernon, and Matt Krigel to step up and fill the void. Generals netminder Matt Shawchuck got his first start of the season looking to strut his stuff in front of the hometown crowd.
The game started out slow with very few scoring chances, until the 15 minute mark of the first when the Generals grabbed the first goal of the game on a slick tic-tac-toe play between Alex Colborne, Jay Labelle, and Jon Pictin, with Colborne finishing off the play for his second of the season. This would be the only tally of the period and after 20 minutes the Generals held a 1-0 lead. The shots in the period were a staggering 20-9 in favour of the Generals.
The second period was a little more wide open offensively with the teams trading great scoring opportunities throughout. The Generals extended their lead only four minutes into the period when Riley Boothby streaked down the wing and fired a shot on net that the Copperheads goalie Danny Wilk fumbled. Hardworking Generals rookie Ian McRae was right on the doorstep to shovel home the rebound for his first as a Cochrane General. Only 3 minutes later Colborne added his second of the night to open up a 3-0 Generals lead. Yet again the Generals got complacent and tried to sit back on their lead. Coaldale capitalized on the Cochrane boys’ sloppy defensive play and scored 2 quick goals to end the second period trailing only 3-2. The shots in the period were even at 10-10.
The third period is when the Generals really started to fire on all cylinders. Riley Boothby banged home his 4^thof the season only 3 minutes in and the Generals began to roll after that. Rookie Dylan Bowerman sniped his first as a General on a great wrist shot from the blue line.  Reid Wilson potted his team leading 5^thof the season and extended his goal scoring streak to 4 games. The Generals would add three more before the end of the game with tallies from Pictin, rookie d-man Matt Krigel, and captain Jesse Adshead. The final buzzer rang with the scoreboard reading Generals 9, Copperhead 4. The Generals again outshot Coaldale 20-9 in the period and 50-28 in the game.
Friday nights effort saw every line chip in offensively and 3 Generals rookies pick up their first career goals. Ian McRae, Dylan Bowerman, and Matt Krigel all took home game pucks for their first of many goals as Generals. The Generals improved to 4-0 on the season and into first place in the south division. The PP went 1/5 and the PK was a perfect 6/6. Matt Shawchuck picked up his first win of the season.