The Cochrane Generals are riding a four-game win streak after fending off a third-period surge by the Red Deer Vipers yesterday.
Up 4-0 after two periods, the Gens weathered a strong push from Red Deer to secure a 7-5 win. Alex Devnich added an empty-netter on a pass from Evan Judge for an insurance goal after the Vipers closed the gap to 6-5 with five minutes remaining in a wide-open third period.
Two-goal scorer and first star Evan Malcolm says the Gens’ success came from playing as a tight group.
“I think we played a full 60 minutes,” said Malcolm. “Everyone playing together, everyone trusting each other. When the puck gets dumped in, we trust our D-man to get that puck up to our wingers. We’re trusting our wingers to get that puck out of our zone. It was a big team effort, full 60 minutes from everyone. It was great.”
A two-minute slashing penalty to Lincoln Pidsadowski halfway through the third didn’t result in a Vipers goal. Instead, it fuelled one by Pidsadowski, who scored unassisted fresh out of the penalty box.
Evan Judge, Jaxon Bouchard and Kael Kozicki were the other Gens scorers.
The night before, the Gens doubled the High River Flyers 6-3 in their Pink in the Rink game, taking a stand against cancer and paying tribute to those battling the disease. It included a ceremonial puck drop by the parents of Elliot VanWynsberghe, a 10-year-old superfan who lost his battle with cancer in April.
Prior to that, they cruised past the Ponoka Stampeders 11-1 and followed it up with a steady 6-3 victory over the Airdrie Thunder.
Malcolm said the winning streak is coming at a good time for the Gens, who have struggled to string together wins in the highly competitive south division of the HJHL.
“Everyone in the room is playing with confidence, everyone’s playing well, so if we keep this up, we’ll have a strong finish.”
The Medicine Hat Cubs and Coaldale Copperheads are tied for first entering the second half of the season, with only four points separating the fifth-place Gens from the third-place Strathmore Wheatland Kings.
The Gens will look to extend their winning streak to five games at home Friday against the Wheatland Kings. The teams have split their first two meetings this season.
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.
Isaias Maddigan made many huge saves in the third to keep the Gens ahead.
Fresh out of the penalty box Lincoln Pidsadowski scored an unassisted goal to help fend off the Vipers.
