By Sheldon Spackman

Generals edge Eagles during Hometown Hockey Tour

Feb 4, 2018 | 4:45 PM

It was senior men’s hockey at its finest at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex in Lacombe on Sunday as the hometown Generals earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Innisfail Eagles.

In the midst of the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour in Lacombe, the rink was near capacity as fans watched both teams try to establish more momentum heading into the Allan Cup Hockey West playoffs.

The first period went scoreless with Lacombe leading on the shot clock 10-4 after twenty minutes.

In the second, Kyle Bailey broke the ice on the power play at 15:24 to put the Generals on the board 1-0. Innisfail responded though when Geoff Rollins scored an unassisted goal for the Eagles to make it 1-1 after forty.

It made for a tight third period in which the General’s Ian Barteaux put Lacombe ahead 2-1 off a nice wrist shot from the high slot at 9:42 on the power play.

'Inspiring Student Success'

Indigenous students enjoy learning about their culture at special conference

1h ago

DON'T WASTE IT

Lacombe encouraging residents to treat water as precious resource

10h ago

Ground School Training

New aviation career pathway elevates opportunities for students

19h ago

“When you keep going around the O-zone around and around and around, something opens up,” said Barteaux. “So it’s never a bad idea to put it on net and was going glove-side all game and decided to changer up and I went blocker and it went in, so lucky me.”

Then with the clock winding down and just 11 seconds left, it looked as though the Eagles may have tied it up during a scramble in front of the Generals net but the officials ruled no-goal to make it a 2-1 final.

The game ended with the shots on goal favouring Lacombe 33-25.

Generals Head Coach Sean Robertson says it was exciting for the team to have its game with the Eagles during the Rogers Home town Hockey Tour this weekend.

“You look around and the rink is full and it’s loud and we’ve got lots of kids around,” said Robertson. “It’s important, that’s part of us giving back to this community and that we try and put a good product on the ice and have these kids come out and support us and watch good hockey.”

The Generals host Stony Plain this Friday, Feb. 9 at 8:30 p.m. with the winner moving on to play the Rosetown Redwings to determine this year’s Allan Cup West Hockey league champion.

After that, the Generals will take on Fort Saskatchewan in the provincial semi-finals starting Feb. 16. Innisfail will take on Stony Plain in the other semi-final series. 

This year’s provincial Senior AAA champion will represent the Pacific region at the 2018 Allan Cup in Rosedale. The host Redwings, Bethune Bulldogs (Sask), and Elsipogtog Hawks (Atlantic) have already qualified for the tournament.