The Lacombe Generals are 2019 Allan Cup champions after defeating the Innisfail Eagles 5-2 on Saturday night. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

four-time champs

Lacombe Generals march past Innisfail Eagles to win 2019 Allan Cup on home ice

Apr 13, 2019 | 11:52 PM

The Lacombe Generals are champions of the 111th Allan Cup.

From the Gary Moe Sportsplex in Lacombe, the Gens and Innisfail Eagles wrapped up the week-long tournament for the senior men’s AAA national title on Saturday night.

Following the 5-2 win, it was a jubilant family affair on the ice.

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“It’s just awesome. You got all your family here, cousins, wife, kids, mom and dad,” said Jesse Todd, a 32-year-old Calgary native who scored twice in the final. “We’ve been chasing this for three years. We just wanted it. They’ve been a hell of a team all year long, they’ve beaten us and this one could’ve gone either way.”

He’s right, given the Generals’ final two goals came with moments remaining and an empty net.

Head coach Sean Robertson, who was stoic most of the week, was able to crack a smile after winning the big one, this time as a coach.

“I feel like these are all my kids and to see them this happy makes you want to do it again. This doesn’t happen without good people, and we pride ourselves on character, and quality, and we definitely have that in spades on this team,” he said.

“Coaching senior hockey is not very glorifying, it’s a lot of frustration. It’s a giant puzzle and when you start clicking pieces together, you set out to accomplish a goal, and you get there, it means you didn’t waste your time.”

A raucous standing-room only crowd bolstered the atmosphere early with dueling chants of ‘Let’s go Generals’ and ‘Let’s go Eagles.’

Scoring was opened about eight minutes in, the Eagles’ Justin Cox breaking the ice to give Innisfail a 1-0 lead.

With 1:50 left in the opening frame, and at 4-on-4, Lacombe’s Chase Norrish found the equalizer to go to the intermission tied 1-1.

In the second, a completely different tale was told at the Eagles’ end of the ice where goaltender Allen York had allowed just one goal on his first 18 shots faced. The Gens, however, scored twice on their next five shots to take a 3-1 lead, Todd and Dylan Nowakowski getting the goals.

With just a minute remaining in the period, Cox scored his second of the night to cut the Gens’ lead to 3-2.

For the Eagles, that was unfortunately as close as they’d come, despite a strong push in the third to try to find the tying goal. Lacombe added two empty netters in the dying moments.

And for the Generals, it is the franchise’s fourth Allan Cup title, and first since it relocated to Lacombe from Bentley at the start of the 2016/17 season. The Gens have been in the final of the Allan Cup 10 of the last 12 years (since 2008), including the last five in a row.

They last won the championship in 2016.

York and Todd were named players of the game, while Shawn Bates of the Eagles earned tournament MVP honours.

Meantime, the dressing room hallway understandably had a pall over it as the Innisfail Eagles pondered what more they could’ve done.

It was head coach Brian Sutter who kept things in perspective.

“When you play three games in three nights, that’s where you learn about life, like when you’re on the farm and you’ve got to work 24 hours a day for three or four days in a row, you’ve got to be sharper at the 22nd, 23rd and 24th hours, and it’s between the ears,” said Sutter, an Allan Cup champion with the Bentley Generals in 2009.

“We knew it was going to be a tough hoe. We have some guys who dug down and went to work, our D ran out of gas a little bit, but they played their hearts out. We were missing a couple important people (too) tonight, but you had other guys who picked the slack up.”

Asked what’s next for the Innisfail Eagles, Sutter was optimistic.

“When I bring in players, you want the core to stay together, to find them jobs, you care about their families, and you don’t find them jobs for the hockey season, you find them jobs for life.” Sutter continued. “We built a core and you’ve got to understand what it took to get here, how hard it was to get here.

“I’m really proud of our guys.”

Saturday’s final was the first time two Alberta teams had gone toe to toe for the title, and the first time two teams from the same province since Thunder Bay and Barrie battled in 1975.

The Allan Cup was first competed for in 1908.

Ian Barteaux, former University of Alberta Golden Bear and Kootenay Ice member, was handed the Allan Cup by captain Brennan Evans. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

All over. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)