Home ice proved to be the advantage in the first two games of the Senior Men’s AAA Provincial finals last weekend as the Lacombe Generals and the Stony Plain Eagles each earned a win. The Generals drew first blood with a 4-2 victory on Friday in Lacombe while the Eagles responded with a gutsy 4-3 come-from-behind win in OT after being down 3-1 with two minutes left to play.  Gens defenseman Doug Jessey proved to be the standout for the team, picking up a goal and three assists over the two games. He says that the Eagles are an opportunistic team.
 
“If we don’t give them anything they tend not to get anything but we let up for a second and let them squeak by or make a soft play with the puck and they tend to capitalize more often than not.  That and their powerplay, they’re really good, they want to be that team that scores and draws penalties so if we stay out of the box I think we’ll be alright.”
 
Jessey also thinks that we can expect more tight results for the rest of the series.
 
“I think more of the same close games, playing in the 3rd period, hard fought for sure.  I don’t think we’re going to see any blowouts either way. I think we’re going to have one and two goal games all the way through.”
 
Game 3 is back home at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportplex on Friday (Mar 16) with an 8:00pm puck drop with Game 4 in Stony Plain on Saturday at 7:30.  Game 5 will be in Lacombe on Wednesday March 21 at 8:00pm.
 
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Tickets are still available for the Black & Gold Moth Ball ladies night fundraiser taking place on Saturday March 24 at the Lacombe Memorial Centre.  Details on the night as well as how to get tickets can be found on the Lacombe Generals Facebook page.