North Central Senior Hockey League

North Central Hockey League:

Lacombe Takes Stranglehold on Vanberg Cup

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - Submitted by the NCHL

The Lacombe Generals sit one win away from their first Vanberg Cup title after taking two games on the road from the Red Deer Rustlers last weekend. Other than the final scores, the two games were about as opposite as one could imagine.

On Saturday night in Penhold, the Generals came out fast and hard, building up 3-1 and 6-3 period leads on their way to a convincing 7-3 win. Bryce Wilson 1-2-3, Thomas Beretta 2-0-2, Jared Williams 2-0-2 and Troy Maclise 0-3-3 lead the way offensively for the Generals, with goals also coming from Scott Maetche and Colin Zimmer. Replying for the Rustlers were Ryan Vandervlis with 2 and Shawn Rowe. Lacombe outshot Red Deer 48-25 and took 5 of the 9 minor penalties called.

Sunday's game took a bit of a turn. After having been outscored 11-4 in the previous two games, Red Deer's defence shored up and goals were at a premium for both clubs. Lacombe led 1-0 (TJ Brown on the PP) after the first, Red Deer (Cory Pritz) tied it in the second and there was no scoring in the third setting the table for the first overtime game in this year's final series. Lacombe's TJ Brown scored the winner at 7:36 of OT ending an entertaining game. Red Deer outshot Lacombe 58-26 (including 38-12 through the 3rd period and OT) and only the solid play of General's goaltender Mack Engel kept Lacombe in the game. Lacombe took 8 of 13 penalties assessed including a hit to the head major/gm misc to defenseman Craig Gans.

Game 5 is scheduled for this Saturday night (7:30) in Lacombe. A Red Deer win will extend the series to a 6th game (Sunday 4:30 in Penhold) while a Lacombe win will capture the Vanberg Cup.