The Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) continues to have some of the toughest competitors in Alberta junior ‘B’ leagues and the Cochrane Generals are among them.

A weekly report produced by award-winning broadcaster Mark Berry, of Campbell River, B.C., shows six HJHL teams are among the top 20 performers this season. The Generals were ranked 17th out of Alberta's 51 junior 'B' teams in the win percentage column. No other junior ‘B’ league in the province has as many teams in the top 20 as the HJHL.

Notching two wins since, the Gens may well be set to climb higher in the rankings. The Gens are hot right now and are coming into Sunday’s home game on a three-game winning streak

Last night on the road, the Gens easily handled the Three Hill Thrashers, 10-1. The Gens overpowered the Thrashers with 57 shots while Robert Michetti turned away 28 of 29 shots and was only being beat once with 4:22 remaining in the game.

As has been the footprint of the Gens all season, the scoring was spread over all its lines. Harry Olser and Scott Shugg both scored a pair. Zach Cugnet, Chris Sambrook, Sam Norris, River Ross, Jaeden Dowling and Takuro Okada each notched one.

Second in Berry’s rankings is the Airdrie Thunder, a team with explosive offence and solid 'D' who have been pretty much unstoppable this season with only two losses in 28 games. They've amassed 237 goals and allowed only 71. The usual suspects--the Coaldale Copperheads, Okotoks Bisons, Red Deer Vipers and Mountainview Colts--are also ranked in the top 20.

In the south, the Copperheads have been ripping it up in their 12-game winning streak and up north the Red Deer Vipers have bounced back after a slow start and have nine straight wins.

The next two months will certainly be interesting. The Gens have their share of tough games in the stretch, including three against the Copperheads, two of which are here in Cochrane. They also face the Bisons one more time at the Cochrane Arena.

Tomorrow's game against the High River Flyers goes at 3:30 p.m. at the Cochrane Arena. It’s the last game of the calendar year for the Gens.