Generals Want to Ace Sunday's Test at Home Against the Snakes

Make that 11 straight wins for the Cochrane Generals after they outlasted the Strathmore Wheatland Kings, 5-3, last night.

The Kings opened up the scoring on a power play at the five-minute mark of the first but by the end of the second the Gens had opened up a 2-1 lead and lead 4-2 after two. The Kings fought back to narrow the gap to one but an assurance goal by Taylor Girard halfway through the third and solid goaltending by Knute Loe took the wind out of their sails. A high hit on Gens leading scorer Braden Bain finished his night and left the Kings shorthanded for a five-minute match penalty on Brenden Moore to negate their chances of a late comeback.

Gens head coach Travis McMillan admires the work ethic of the Kings and believes with a little more depth they could be a contender.

"They can give you a run for your money any night, so I'm happy that we came together again and managed to pull out a win," says McMillan. "With the good goaltending we have and the depth that we have there's no reason why the train shouldn't stop rolling."

The next stop on that train is right here Sunday afternoon against the south-leading Coaldale Copperheads. McMillan expects them to be venomous and believes it will take a solid 60-minute performance to tame the snakes.

"That will be the biggest test," he says. "Top teams play their best hockey when another top team comes into town."

"I think we need to be a little more tenacious on our forecheck and in coming back in our D-zone because they're going to throw everything and the kitchen sink at us and if we take what we have earned so far for granted, they'll wipe us all over the ice."

He doesn't want the team to fall into its habit of sitting back when they get the lead

"If we come on Sunday with the sense that we have ownership we'll do well. if we take a step back, like we tend to when we get up, we're going to be in serious trouble. So we need to be prepared, we need to be mentally focused and we need to be ready to play our game and hopefully pull out that win."

There's plenty of the line or both teams coming into the game. The Gens remain in the hunt for a second place finish to earn a bye from the first round off playoffs. The Copperheads are all but assured of a first-place finish but they have yet to solve the Gens riddle. Cochrane won the first two meetings on the road.

"It's going to be a battle," says McMillan. "I fully anticipate when we leave here Sunday afternoon we should have emptied the tank and left everything on the ice. If we don't we may not pull out that win."

The Okotoks Bisons are in Coaldale tonight in a game that will also impact the tight race between the top three in the south.

Sunday's game time is 3:45 p.m. at the Cochrane Arena.