On November 21, the Cannex Cochrane Generals rolled into Ponoka looking for an opportunity to bounce back into form.
On that night, the Generals entered play with a 7-9-1 record and were trailing all but one team in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s (HJHL) South Division standings. The Generals opened the month of November with a 3-0 win over the Medicine Hat Cubs, but then proceeded to lose three straight and scored just one goal a game in each game.
The Nov. 21 game against Ponoka was just what the team needed to regain its scoring touch; the Stampeders, the HJHL’s worst team who, as of January 5, have a 1-28 record and have been scored on a league-worst 229 times.
The Generals beat Ponoka 11-1. They wouldn’t lose another game for 42 days.
The Streak
Founded in 1984, the Cochrane Generals have never experienced a win streak like the one they just went on. Until this year, the longest string of victories the Generals have patched together was nine, a feat they did in 2015-2016.
On Dec. 21, a month since their last loss, the generals welcomed the Ponoka Stampeders to the SLS Centre, with history on the line. The Generals had won nine straight going into the late December game, their last before the Christmas break. Looking to tie the record that had stood for a decade, the Generals fended off the lowly Stampeders, who posed more of a challenge the second time around, by a score of 3-2.
With the franchise record set, the Generals entered the Christmas break on the highest of notes. A day after the calendar turned over, the Generals welcomed the Sylvan lake Wranglers to town, and beat them 4-2 to set a new high water mark.
Alas, the quest for 11 straight wins would not come to fruition. On Jan. 3, a day after setting a new franchise record and 42 days since their streak began, the Generals suffered their first loss since late November at the hands of the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings, who walked out of the SLS Centre with a 5-2 victory.
Eight games remain in 2025-2026 season
A hockey season is a marathon. Thirty-eight regular season games played across six months, it is virtually impossible for a team playing in a league as unpredictable as the HJHL to win every single game they play.
The Generals took advantage of the opportunity that their win streak afforded them; they climbed from fifth to second in the south standings and have put themselves within striking distance of first place, and a coveted first round playoff bye.
During their 10-game win streak the Generals scored 61 goals, averaging about six goals a game. They scored six or more goals in a game six times, and limited the opposing team to just 21 goals, or about two goals a game. In seven of the 10 games the Generals allowed two or fewer goals against.
But even with the offence as lethal as it has been and with the defence as stingy as it has been, the Generals still sit eight points back of first place in the south, in large part because the only team that has been better than them since November is the team ahead of them in the standings.
Around the same time the Generals were starting their streak, the Medicine Hat Cubs were plotting down their path to history. As of Jan. 5, the Cubs have won 14 games in a row, and have been on a monumental ride up the standings.
The Cubs, who enjoy a record of 21-6-1, are the only team that sits between the Generals and first place in the division. With just eight games to go in the 2025-2026 regular season, the Generals and Cubs will play each other twice, on Jan. 10 at the SLS Centre and Jan. 18 in Medicine Hat. The Generals will have to win both those games, and will need the Cubs to lose a game or two, if they hope to finish the regular season in first place.
