The Lacombe Generals were hoping to put on a show in their home opener at the Gary Moe Autogroup Sportsplex against the Rosetown Redwings.

The Generals came into the game with a perfect 3-0-0-0 record, which put them atop the Allan Cup Hockey League West—right in front of Rosetown in the standings.

The first period was a dogged affair with neither team able to gain much ground. The Generals would finally manage to capitalize late in the period when forward Kyle Bailey was able to find the back of the net for his first goal of the season, after crashing the Redwing net hard.

The Generals would take a 1-0 lead heading into the second frame.

Lacombe would come out hitting in the second period, looking to extend their lead. Unfortunately for the home team, the Redwings would find the twine first when Brayden Atkinson scored top shelf over Generals goalie Steven Sanford ont he breakaway—knotting the score at 1-1.

The Generals have the answer with 11 minutes to go in the second, after the Redwings found themselves down two men. Generals Brett Robertson would bang home the power play goal for his first of the season, putting the Generals up 2-1.

The score would remain the same for the rest of the period, as neither team would find a way to capitalize on their chances.

The third period would be see the Redwings come out firing throughout the whole period. Sanford would need to make two superstar saves in the first 10 minutes, however Rosetown would eventually tie the game at up when Torrie Dyck scored in a scramble play in front of the Generals net.

The Generals would have a late power play, however they were unable to generate chances—leading the third period ending in a 2-2 draw.

The teams would head to 5 minutes of 4 on 4 which saw chances for both teams. The Generals would take a penalty with just over 2 minutes to play.

The subsequent 4 on 3 would lead Redwing Garrett Bembridge scoring with 30 seconds to go in overtime, leading to a 3-2 Redwing win.

“I thought we played a pretty responsible game,” Generals Coach Sean Robertson said. “We had a couple lapses and against good teams you have to play a full 60 minutes.”

The Generals were out shot 31-27 in their first game on home ice, and Sanford would drop to 2-1 on the year despite playing an excellent game between the pipes.

“We don’t apologize for having good goalies,” Robertson said. “He (Sanford) battles hard.”

Lacombe now looks ahead to November 10th when they play the Stony Plain Eagles on home ice.

Robertson added, “It’s not April. It is not March. it is October and we are feeling our way through this. I was pleased with our effort.”

todd.vaughan@reddeerexpress.com

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