Generals stay alive in Game 5

By RYAN MCCRACKEN on March 2, 2020.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken

Cochrane Generals captain Brandon Aab scored eight minutes into overtime to keep his team’s season alive with a 3-2 victory over the Medicine Hat Cubs in Game 5 of the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s Southern Division semifinal on Sunday at Cochrane Arena.

Cubs forward Spencer Chapman scored with 12 minutes left in regulation to force overtime and shift the momentum squarely in Medicine Hat’s favour, but Aab capitalized on his chance in sudden death.

“I think we were definitely controlling the pace,” said Cubs co-coach JD Gaetan, whose team now holds a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series. “They’re playing desperate hockey, backs against the wall, so we knew we were going to see probably the best game they’ve had all year. We tried to match that and I thought we did that fairly well. It just comes down to one or two mistakes here and there.”

The series shifts back to the Kinplex for Game 6 tonight at 7:30 p.m. A victory would send the Cubs to the Southern Division final against the Okotoks Bisons. The Bisons punched their ticket to the division final with a four-game sweep of the High River Flyers.

“It’s just about resetting, putting this game in the past and getting ready to go (for Game 6),” said Gaetan. “It’s always nice playing at home and the crowd has been really supportive of us and loud, so that always fires the guys up.”

Noah Irvine opened the scoring on a first-period power play, drawing an assist from Chapman, to give the Cubs an edge after 20 minutes.

The Generals knotted things up with a goal from Chris Sambrook in the second, then Ryan Davis stole away the lead on a power play early in the third.

“I wasn’t overly happy with how the first period-and-a-half went,” said Gaetan. “But we found our legs and started pushing the pace. (In Game 6) we’ll have to look at getting off to that quick start and keeping the momentum throughout the whole game.”

Cochrane’s Erik Garber stopped 34 shots to collect the series-extending victory.

Cubs netminder Dawsen Savage took the loss – his first since returning from a hand injury to start Game 2 – with a 52-save performance.

“We always get the same from Dawsen. He’s going to make those big saves for us and keep us in hockey games,” said Gaetan. “We’re always confident with him back in the net.”

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