If it wasn’t clear before, it is now.

One-third into the season, each win is a battle in the south division of the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) that is showing a fair amount of parity.

Point and case was the Cochrane Generals’ Nov. 8 road loss to Okotoks Bisons. It took overtime for the division-leading Bisons to come away with a 2-1 win in a game that could have easily gone either way.

The Bisons struck first but not before spending over 30 minutes trying to solve Gens goalie Knute Loe. With 2 ½ minutes remaining in the third, the Gens tied the match on a goal by Sam Norris from the high slot, assisted by Scott Shugg. The Bisons scored three minutes into overtime.

Gens head coach Travis McMillan says it as a fast-paced game from the get-go.

“We only had a handful of face-offs in the first 10 minutes of the first period so I think that set the tone really early and we knew there was a going to be a lot of run-and-gun to the game.

McMillan says the Gens controlled the play for the majority of the game and didn't back down to a Bisons team that likes to think it can push around its south division opponents. The Gens outshot the Bisons but it didn't reflect on the scoreboard.

“Overall I think we did a very good. We just, unfortunately, made another goaltender look pretty good and couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net.”

Shot quality is something the team is addressing, says McMillan, pointing to last Sunday’s game when they had 50 more shots on net than the Lomond Lakers.

“Against Lomond, we put up 69 shots and only won 3-1 and that's not right. It’s something we’re working on.”

This was the Gens first contest with the Bisons and the teams will meet three more times this season.

The Gens have four more road games before coming back home to the Cochrane Arena. On Sunday they travel to Claresholm to see if they can continue their winning streak against the Lomond Lakers. They beat the Lakers in their first two meetings.

Next weekend they will get their first look at the High River Flyers and have a rematch with the Stettler Lightning.

Their next home game is Nov. 24 against the Airdrie Techmaton Thunder, who is undefeated in their first 17 games and is currently the top-ranked junior ‘B’ team in Alberta.