Gens off to HJHL finals, earn berth into provincials

Gens assistant coach Erik Krigel lost four inches of his beard last night. If the team has it their way, he's going to lose it all.

The Generals are off to the HJHL championship series for the first time since the 2016-17 season and might know as soon as Friday who they'll be facing.

Last night, they beat the short-staffed Red Deer Vipers, 4-2, to take the championship in five games.

The Gens scored all four goals in the opening period, the first two off of the stick of Connor Stephenson. That makes it three games straight that he's opened the scoring. Stephenson ended with three points, earning an assist on the fourth goal and first star on the night.

"I'm not usually a goal scorer, at least I haven't been throughout my hockey career," says Stephenson, "but it's awesome to flip the switch, and it's good for a change."

He says he's playing every game like it's his last one because it might well be. He becomes an overaged player next season.

Jamal Kalaf, who also earned a star, and Dagan Kadlec scored the other two.

Both of the Vipers' goals came in the third, the second on a penalty shot.

Davyn LaRocke once again shut the door on the Vipers in the early going while the Gens found their stride.

He likes stiff competition and can expect plenty of it against either the Okotoks Bisons or Medicine Hat Cubs in the league championship series.

"I think we're ready for either team," says LaRocke. "It doesn't matter who it is, we're going to bring our game."

Gens captain Patrick Forde says the north championship illustrates the team's depth.

"Our line was a little quiet the last couple of games, and the other lines just picked it up. That's what you need to win a championship. It's good to see going into the finals."

"I think we all knew going into the season that we had a good shot of getting there. That's been one of our goals."

Vipers head coach Kyle Scott says he's proud of his team's determination despite being hit hard by injuries all season long.

"It's unbelievable, to be honest. Going into the playoffs, we were down eight regular players, which is absolutely unheard of, but we pieced it together with affiliates, and guys played hurt through the playoffs just to field a lineup. I'm proud of these boys. They put everything into it."

Vipers captain Austin Gallant agrees and salutes his teammates for making it to the north.

"We were so short-handed that one of our goalies had to play defense tonight."

That goalie was Brett Park, who has been their starter in the playoffs.

Gens head coach Kurtis Jones says the tough competition they faced in the north playoffs will work to the team's advantage.

"It's going to set us up for success going forward. Our mindset won't be to expect any easy games. We know it's going to be tough. That's how we went through this playoff series. We knew every game was a grind."

He praises Stephenson for his performance in the playoffs so far.

"He's a horse," says Jones. "He's been our best player, him and LaRocke... actually, all our guys have been really good."

The last time the Gens went to the finals, they represented the south against none other than the Vipers. They lost that series but went on to win silver in the Junior B provincials.

The Gens won two back-to-back HJHL championships in 2007-08 and 2008-09 against the Stettler Lightning.

Meanwhile, Game Five of the south championship goes tonight in Okotoks. The Bisons lead the Medicine Hat Cubs, 3-1. Jones says they're both good teams and expects a close championship series either way.