Gens Tame Cubs Once Again

Saturday saw the mighty Cochrane Generals face off against the Medicine Hat Cubs. The Generals were looking to go to 9-0 with a win over the feisty cubs and inch closer to the Airdrie Thunder for tops in the Central Division. Heading into Saturday’s action the Generals were 4 points behind Airdrie with 2 games in hand.

Once again the Generals were the team to strike first when Danny McSween deposited his 9^th of the season. Assists came from Kris Keller and Spencer Sobie, with Sobie getting his second assist in as many nights. The Generals weren’t done there, only 4 minutes later they extended their lead to two when Jonny Pictin banged home his 8^th of the season with Mcsween picking up his second point of the night and Jay Labelle adding a second helper. Thanks to some timely saves from goaltender Garrett Fraser, the Generals headed to the dressing room after 20 minutes up 2-0. The Generals outshot the Cubs 10-6 in the period.

The second period looked very similar to the first. The Generals controlled the play and kept the puck in Med Hat’s end for a majority of the period. At the seven minute mark of the period assistant captain Kyle Tucker took a Kashtin Gordon pass and made no mistake depositing his 5th of the season. Only 3 minutes later the Generals, who boast the top powerplay in the league, went on the man advantage for the second time on the night. Some good puck movement led to an opening for Mscween and he buried his second of the night past the Med Hat goalie. A lone assist went to rookie defenceman Maddison Smiley. The period ended with the score board reading Generals 4, Medicine Hat, 0. Shots in the period were a lopsided 22-6 for the Gens.

The third period was a different story than the previous 2 periods. The Cubs had no answer for the Generals thus far in the game but went back to the basics and started to forecheck hard. The Cubs hard work and a bit of Generals complacency led to a goal 6 minutes into the third, ruining Garrett Fraser’s shutout bid. The Generals coaching staff has stressed all year that the three ingredients for winning are “focus, determination, and emotional control.” The Generals decided to abandon all three of these ingredients and play to the beat of their own drum. This led to a slew of Generals penalties in the final 9 minutes of the game including 2 double minors. It was up to the General’s 5^th ranked PK unit to play pretty much the rest of the game a man down. During the latter half of the Gens second double minor, the Cubs were able to pull within 2 with 2:05 remaining. That was as close as they would get however, with the PK unit’s tank almost empty, the buzzer rang to move the Gens to an impressive 9-0 on the season.  

Final Shots in the game Generals 40, Medicine Hat 28. Goaltender Garrett Fraser had another solid night stopping 26 of 28 shots to move to 3-0 on the season. The Generals went 1/6 on the powerplay and 8/9 on the penalty kill. With the win and an Airdrie loss to the Red Deer Vipers, the Gens are now only 2 points behind their division rival with 2 games in hand. The Gens are also the only undefeated team remaining in the Heritage League