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Generals, Rock heading in different directions as 2008-09 season comes to a close

There’s an old adage that says, “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” and for the two major hockey teams in this coverage area, that adage pretty well sums up their entire seasons to this point because while the Bentley Generals have picked up exactly where they left off last season as reigning champions of the Chinook Hockey League and finalists in the national championship, the Rimbey Rock of the Heritage Junior Hockey League find themselves pretty well in the same situation t
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With a shortage of both goals and wins this season

There’s an old adage that says, “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” and for the two major hockey teams in this coverage area, that adage pretty well sums up their entire seasons to this point because while the Bentley Generals have picked up exactly where they left off last season as reigning champions of the Chinook Hockey League and finalists in the national championship, the Rimbey Rock of the Heritage Junior Hockey League find themselves pretty well in the same situation they did last year at this time – trying desperately to hold onto one of the league’s few remaining playoff spots.

Heading into this past weekend’s action, the Generals have established themselves at the top of their league’s standings by opening the 2008-09 season with 18 straight victories including taking two of two from their archrivals the Stony Plain Eagles. Even more impressive is the fact that of the 36 points that the opposition could have taken from the Generals, they’ve given up just one and that was to the Eagles who earned the point by taken them to an overtime shoot-out which they eventually lost.

Prior to last Friday night’s clash against the Lloydminster Border Kings, the Generals were leading the league in both goals for with 126 for an average of seven per game while giving up just 34 for an average of 1.9 per game.

And while they may be prolific on the offensive side of the things, the Generals bring a balanced attack to each game evident by the fact that of the top 20 scorers in the league, Bentley has but six including Curtis Austring who leads the way with 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points in only 17 games played.

Following the Lloydminister game, the Gens have five regular season games left including a big back-to-back series with Stony Plain. The first of those clashes is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 23 when the two will meet at the Red Deer Arena and will follow it up the next night back in Stony Plain.

As for the Rock, things have not panned out as planned as they find themselves holding on to third place in the Heritage League’s Prairie Division with a record of 3 wins, 23 losses and 1 tie after 27 games, good for 7 points.

While the trail the second-place Banff Academy Bears by 14 points, they have a slim five point lead over the woeful Ponoka Stampeders, who sit in the division and the league basement with just one win after 21 games.

While the good news is the Rock will make the playoffs, the bad news is that the further down the standings they are, the higher up the other team they’ll face will be in the first round. For example if regular season play was over, the Rock would face the Blackfalds Ford Wranglers who lead the Lakes Division with 36 points and who blasted the Rock 11-3 last Wednesday night.

The Rock have only three home games remaining including Jan. 20 against Ponoka, Jan. 23 against the Cochrane Generals and will finish off the home portion of their schedule on Feb. 13 against the Red Deer Vipers.