There's a board the Cochrane Generals have prepared for their playoff run under the slogan "Everybody Ropes, Everybody Rides."

Pucks fill the slots for their success in the first two rounds against the Flyers and Bisons, but so far it remains blank for their HJHL south final series against the Coaldale Copperheads.

Goalie Knute Loe has the corner tightly covered on Coaldale's Jayden Bexte.The Gens were left scrambling last night after the Copperheads notched three unanswered goals in the first. Harry Olser's goal with 1:40 remaining in the third made it 3-1 to give the Snakes a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Copperheads showed their venomous fangs early. Eight shots into the game, they held a 3-0 lead with success on two odd-man rushes and a screened rebound. The Gens found their defensive form in the next two stanzas and attempted to find rhythm on offense but there were no markers to be weaseled through the moshpit that regularly congregated in front of Coaldale goalie Nolan Berner. 

Gens head coach Travis McMillan says you can't afford to get behind in a playoff series and the team needs to rediscover that sense of urgency they displayed against the Bisons. Some staples of the team's offensive zone forecheck strategy weren't being followed early in the game and Coaldale took full advantage of it.

"The playoffs are a completely different style of play and unfortunately through these first few games we have not been stepping up to the plate and we need to realize very quickly if we don't take care of our business and don't be doing what we've been the entire playoffs up until this point, we will fail as a hockey club. There needs to be a sense of urgency in everything that we do and we need to make sure we capitalize on the opportunities that are presented to us."

Goalie Nolan Berner holds off Gen Brandon Aab.

Now the Gens are forced to do something they haven't had to do in the first two rounds--catchup.

"If you fall behind in a series it's a tough hole to get out of, particularly against a team that plays as well as Coaldale does," says McMillan. "They haven't changed a thing, we haven't changed a thing, we just need to be doing a better job."

The series returns to Coaldale for Game Three on Saturday night. Then it's back to Cochrane on Sunday for Game 4 at 5:30 p.m. in a ridiculously tight schedule of potentially seven games in 13 days.