Genrals Come Up Short Against The Thrashers

Friday night the Generals stepped into the familiar confines of Totem Arena for inarguably the biggest game of the 09/10 season. The opponents, the Three Hills Thrashers sat 3 points ahead of the Generals coming into the game with the Cochrane squad having two games in hand. A win would pull the Generals within a point of the second place Thrashers leaving the games in hand against struggling High River and division leading Airdrie. The stage was set, the Generals had all the motivation in the world. The result was a flat, uninspired start that saw the Generals down 4-1 after the first.

The Thrashers scored their first goal only 1:55 into the period, and the Generals seemed to respond well equalizing on a nifty passing play be line mates Jay Labelle, Mike Matlo and Taylor Irvin, with Irvin finishing off the play with a nice backhand deke. This was when the Gens` complacent play started. The Thrasher pulled ahead by one due to a sloppy powerplay effort by the Generals which saw the visitors pot a short handed goal. The Thrashers added two more before the end of the first and the Generals found them selves in a big hole after 20 minutes.

After some choice words from the coaching staff, the Generals came out looking like a team with the ability to three-peat as league champs. A Jay Labelle powerplay marker pulled the Generals to within two. Assists went to Irvin and Matlo. Irvin added his second of the night on a pass from Labelle with less than a minute left in the period. Kurt Briggs picked up the second assist on the play. The Generals went into the locker room after 40 minutes down 4-3.

The Generals came out for the third period shorthanded and looking to kill the penalty off and grab the equalizer. The Generals killed of the first half of the penalty but saw the Thrashers bury a onetimer only 27 seconds into the period to restore a two goal lead. The Generals directed all kinds of rubber at the Three Hills goaltender looking to pull even. Taylor Irvin decided to start the show by potting his hat trick goal and reducing the deficit to one. The Generals had 7 minutes left on the clock and threw everything they had at the opponent’s net. With their net empty, the Gens came close on a number of occasions to tie the game but couldn’t seem to solve the goaltender. The horn sounded with the scoreboard reading Generals 4, Three Hills 5. The loss makes it very difficult for Cochrane to get home ice advantage in the Playoffs and the likely matchup will be against these very same Three Hills Thrashers.

Final Shots were 38-37 in favour of the Thrasher. The Gens went 1/10 on the powerplay, while killing 7/8 penalties.