BENTLEY, Alberta – Someone once said there is no rest for the wicked. The Bentley Generals dispute that. The defending Allan Cup Champions are taking the next 2 weeks to rest up and prepare for a best of 7 Alberta Finals series which will determine who represents the Province at the Allan Cup Tournament in Fort St John BC, April 19th-24rth. The Generals have known since the end of January they would retain a spot in provincial finals, having clinched a round one bye on the strength of their 19-1 Chinook League record. A separate league playoff acted to determine the Chinook Championship. The Generals dramatically defended this trophy, needing double overtime to prevail over Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs in a 3rd and deciding game in Bentley last week. The three game set was played at high intensity, despite not having any bearing on the ultimate goal. Generals’ manager, Jeff Mcinnis, was satisfied with how serious his team took each league series; “At our level, there are two entities- the league and the provincial. This (CHL title) means a lot because you’re beating a team that you might meet again to get to the Allan Cup. You would not want to give them that motivation or confidence from beating us.” After falling to the Gens’ in league playoffs, Fort Saskatchewan finds themselves in a gang war on ice with cross-city rival Stony Plain Eagles. East side meets west side. Their best of 5 Provincial semi-finals is deadlocked at 1-1 after the two Edmonton area clubs clashed in a nasty exchange of home ice wins last weekend. At the centre of a major sub-plot in this battle, is Doug Auchenberg. The portly centreman won the Chinook League scoring title last season, leading Fort Saskatchewan through a thrilling seven game attempt to knock off Bentley in Provincial playoffs. If you based his loyalty to the Chiefs on that performance, you would had to have agreed with the belief Auch’ would bleed out before he would be with any other team. Auchenberg went down to block a shot in the dying moments of game 7 and while the rest of his team came up short on the rally, ‘Auch’ was in an emergency dental procedure to separate pieces of vulcanized rubber from what was left of his teeth. Tough to swallow for Dougie. For Fort Saskatchewan, the bitterest pill came a couple months before the start of this season when a rift between Auchenberg and the Chiefs ended with Auchenberg’s release granted and his subsequent signing with Stony Plain. Nobody could have seen it coming. Auchenberg had been a mainstay with the Chiefs and they were on the fringe of contention for a National Championship when time ran out on the Cinderella twirl last March. Yet, there he was recording 3 assists in a losing cause last Saturday, two of which came on goals by Brandt Middleton, also a former Chief. That this ultimate in treason is culminating in a head to head series is not theatre for the meek. Stony Plain was leading game 1; 4-3 half way through the 3rd period, poised to poach home ice advantage away but after Mike Hurley tied it for the Chiefs, Blair Hennes double minor for slashing prompted a powerplay goal from Eric Sonnenberg. Hurley scored again at 6:38, 14 seconds later Corey Rutt completed the ransack, making it 8-4. Not stopping at just the series lead, Fort Saskatchewan put the finishing touches on the night by dog-piling Stony’s prized puckstopper, Sean Fields, after the final buzzer. Ominously setting the tone for game 2 in Stony Plain’s Glenn Hall Arena. Auchenberg and the Eagles had a fast, no questions asked, response to Fort’s tactics 24 hours later. Three of six Stony shots beat David Tetrault to blast open game two. Auchenberg assisted on Boyd Olson’s opener at 15:13 and Middleton’s 3rd of the series, on the PP, less than 3 minutes later. Adam Tomkow’s shot ended Tetrault’s night and Auchenberg welcomed Garret Kindred into the game by scoring at 7:16. In 4 periods of provincial playoff hockey, Auchenberg rang up a goal and five assists against his former team. With his team trailing 5-1, Chiefs’ player/coach Bryan Forslund engaged Jordan Ceh with 10 seconds to go in the 2nd period. The scrap touched off a myriad of misconducts, majors and melee’s in the 3rd. In the middle of it all, Benjamin Lindemulder, scoring powerplay goals at 19:01 and 13:05. The 22 year old Chiefs defenceman potted his 2nd while Team Canada World Jr. alumni, Kyle Rossiter, served a Stony double minor for spearing. The Chiefs may have had another big push in them but a 5 minute slashing major on Derek Pess at 6:30 of the 3rd put them shorthanded for all but spare change on the clock. Keeping true to form; game 2 was bookended with fighting majors to Brady Cooke and Shane Christianson. All told a total of 137 PIMS, 149 shots on goal and 24 goals in six periods. The series tied at a game, resumes Wednesday night in Fort Saskatchewan. Neither team will say they planned for stickwork to be part of the equation. It could be a case of personal gripes getting in the way. It could be raw emotion going too far or it could be a blatant lack of respect but it doesn’t make much sense no matter how you slash it when each team is so frontloaded with finesse. There is still a series to be decided amidst the chop shop. The Generals await what’s left of the winner. Contact Wade.Giesbrecht@prohockeynews.com
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