Lacombe Generals are Chinook Hockey League champions after beating the Stony Plain Eagles on Saturday night.

A decisive 10-3 has solidified their spot in the Allan Cup, where they’ll compete against Canada’s top Senior AAA Hockey teams.

This year’s Allan Cup is being hosted in Bouctouche, New Brunswick and the Generals are the first team in Canada to qualify.

Newfoundland, Ontario and Manitoba or Saskatchewan will also have teams in this year’s tournament. 

Head Coach Curtis Austring said he never stopped believing in this group, although they were down a game twice in their series against the Eagles.

Gens had a big game on Friday to go up 3-2 in the series, giving them a great opportunity on Saturday.

“The motivation just goes up another notch, and the boys got excited,” said Austring following the Friday’s 5-1 win.

“(Friday) was not just another game and they were amped up and ready to go and the guys responded great.”

 

Gens late-season addition Eric Galbraith added 10 points (four goals, six assists) in six games against the Eagles including two big goals on Friday.

“We got on them early and often. We got on their “D”, limiting their time and space. We were ferocious on the forecheck and we got a lot of pucks towards the net. Everybody had a solid outing.”

Generals went 3-for-5 on the powerplay in their game on Saturday, something Galbraith said the team takes seriously.

“I know they put some emphasis on working on it in practice on Wednesday because it was something we needed to clean up in order for us to be successful.”

Ryan Smyth made his return to the ice on Saturday, after missing the bulk of the series after being knocked out  by Gens tough-guy Kyle Sheen in Game 1.

Sheen was suspended 16 games for the hit.

Generals will now wait until the other leagues across Canada finish their playoffs, before heading to New Brunswick for the Allan Cup.