Despite no longer being division rivals in the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL), the Cochrane Generals and the Airdrie Thunder still play an intense brand of hockey when the two teams meet.
Generalsí forward Jonny Pictin had a hat trick, while Riley Boothby added two goals, as Cochrane used a four-goal third-period outburst to outlast Airdrie 7-3 at the Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Sports Centre, Jan. 14.
ìThe game hasnít lost any of its luster, even though weíre not in the same division anymore,î said Generalsí assistant coach Tanner Boothby. ìThereís something about Airdrie and Cochrane that always brings out the nastiness.î
Nick Borody and Chris Hugo had the other goals for Cochrane, while netminder Brady Markham made 39 saves for the win. Brandon Esposito, Alex Hustad and Marcus Cheng had the Airdrie goals, with Cody Boeckman making 44 saves in net.
ìFor two periods, I think we outplayed them, but we had a rash of penalties and injuries that put us down to three defencemen,î said Thunder assistant coach Gareth Barley of the game that featured 106 penalty minutes.
ìWe had a lot of key players missing from the lineup, but itís no excuse for the final outcome. They dominated the third period.î
ìWe were tied 3-3 after the second and we were just kind of hanging in there,î Boothby said. ìWe werenít really getting any bounces, then in the third we started to. Theyíre a team that likes to capitalize on the power play. They keep it simple and wait for you to haul them down. But we cleaned it up in the third.î
Cochrane, 21W-8-2L on the season, dropped a 6-1 loss to Okotoks a day earlier. As of Rocky View Weekly press time, the Generals trailed the Bisons by seven points, with one game in hand.
The team played host to Banff on Jan. 20 and Stettler on Jan. 21. It will visit the High River Flyers on Jan. 27 before hosting the Three Hills Thrashers in its next home game, Jan. 28.
The puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. at the Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Sports Centre
ìWeíre going to try and catch Okotoks, but I donít know if weíll be able to,î Boothby said of his teamís upcoming schedule. ìWeíre also looking forward to the playoff and gearing our practices up accordingly.î
