(Doug Mathieson)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

ALLAN CUP

Generals clip Red Wings, will meet Innisfail in Allan Cup final

Apr 12, 2019 | 10:26 PM

The Lacombe Generals will meet the Innisfail Eagles in Saturday’s Allan Cup final.

Fans at the Gary Moe Sportsplex were crammed tighter than sardines on Friday night for what was the second of two semi-final matchups. The Generals ended up beating the Rosetown Red Wings 3-1.

It was the home team getting on the board first and within the first five minutes of play as Kyle Stroh notched his third of the tournament to put Lacombe up 1-0.

Then, with just under six to go in the opening frame, Lacombe added to their lead with Nolan Huysmans getting the 2-0 goal.

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In the second, Lacombe got into penalty trouble going down two men not once, but twice. Rosetown took advantage on the first occasion, Justin Fox cutting the lead to 2-1 midway through the period.

Once they escaped the sin bin, the Generals got back on the board with a tally by Kyle Ross to make it 3-1 going into the third.

In the final period, the teams played a tight-checking 20 minutes of hockey. No goals were scored and Lacombe skated away with the win.

Shots were 11-3 Lacombe after 20 minutes, 16-16 through 40, and 28-26 Rosetown at the end of the night.

Gens head coach Sean Robertson spoke about his team’s mid-game penalty woes.

“We got some big efforts from guys like Kyle Ross, some huge efforts on the PK; we’re not talking right now unless we do stymie them on the PK,” he said.

As for their opponent on Saturday, Robertson added that any results from earlier this season mean nothing now.

“We’ve always known they (Innisfail) work hard, they’re resilient and they keep coming. Since Brian’s (Sutter) been there, it’s been that way,” said Robertson.

“It’s a one-game showdown, and the key for us is that we have our guys play within themselves and not do too much.”

Captain Brennan Evans said the win was an ugly one, but they’ll take it.

“That day off was nice. Now it’s almost like a storybook. At some point we were going to end up playing the Eagles, and they earned their way. It’ll be the hardest game for us of the tournament for sure,” the former Calgary Flame admitted.

“Playing Innisfail, there might be a penalty or two you’d think, but hopefully we can keep it to a minimum and keep to our game.”

Innisfail beat Stoney Creek 3-2 earlier on Friday. Saturday’s sold-out final gets going at 6 p.m. and can also be viewed on TSN.ca at game time. It will otherwise air on television three hours after the drop of the puck.