Forward Nolan Huysmans scored midway through the first overtime to give the Lacombe Generals a 3-2 victory over the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs on Monday afternoon.

With the win, the Generals have taken a 2-0 series lead in the first round of the senior AAA provincial championship.

But it hasn’t been easy, Huysmans said.

“Their whole team’s playing really well. It’s been a tough first two games, only going to get tougher next weekend so got to be ready,” he said.

“It’s been a lot tighter checking, a lot less room in the neutral zone. Seems like they’re clogging it up really well. They’re making it hard on us and we’ve been fortunate to squeak out a couple close wins this week.”

Goals from Jesse Todd and Brennan Evans helped the Generals come back from a 2-0 deficit during Monday’s game.

Steven Stanford started in net and made 23 saves.

His Chiefs counterpart, Devon Fordyce, has been keeping games close throughout the series. Through two games, he has stopped 94 of 99 shots.

Generals head coach Sean Robertson said it’s a different Chiefs team than the one they played in the regular season.

“Gone are the days of mailing in efforts and walking over teams,” Robertson said. “It’s now, defence is going to win you hockey games and not offence. For us to give up two goals for the weekend was very important. Goals are hard to come by now, especially on that guy.”