Written by: Rory McGouran

It won’t move you up the standings, but it certainly moves the needle towards a winning culture as the Generals head into the regular season.

Still carrying 34 players following a week of training camp practices, the Northeast Generals picked up back-to-back preseason victories over the Maine Nordiques on Thursday and the New Hampshire Mountain Kings on Friday. Both Gens’ rosters featured a mix of returning players, newcomers with junior experience, and pure rookie recruits looking to crack the opening day roster. 

Thursday afternoon, the Gens hosted the Nordiques at the Canton Ice House picking up a 6-4 victory over a young Maine roster.

Spencer Hirsch, who scored 13 goals and 30 points last year, returns for his second Generals’ season and found the back of the net twice, as did offensively gifted rookie Logan Poulin. Poulin paced his Massachusetts high school division in points and goals last year, scoring 53 goals with 85 points in just 25 games while captaining Nauset High.

The offense was rounded out with goals from Braydon Hudtloff and Finn Connor. Hudtloff suited up for three games as a General last year (1gp-2a) while spending the bulk of his year at Northfield Mount Hermon. Meanwhile Connor, a second-year forward, looks to take his next step in the Generals’ development after a 54-game season in 2024-25 where he added 15 points.

The Gens’ split the netminder duties between two import goalies, Liam Deussen and Murat Shiyanov, both playing their first junior game in North America after spending last season in Switzerland’s junior circuit.

Friday afternoon the Gens’ travelled to New Hampshire where they needed a gutsy third period comeback to secure a 5-4 shootout victory.

New Hampshire led for the majority of the contest with a 3-1 buffer heading into the middle of the third period. Thomas Kotchkov provided the lone goal through the first 50 minutes. Klochkov, who battled multiple injuries through his three years as a General limiting him to just 64 games, showcased his elite ability to create offense with an individual effort knifing through the neutral zone before firing a high blocker shot passed the Mountain Kings netminder.

Completing the comeback and building a 4-3 lead were Eli Shulman, Kody Moyer, and Cole McKenna.

Shulman, from Tucson, AZ, and the lone rookie of the trio, had a very productive season with the Lincoln Stars U18 AAA program accumulating 71 points in 61 games. Moyer is entering his first full season as a General after splitting last year between Northeast and Watertown. Finally, McKenna enters his fourth season of junior hockey as the most experienced player on the roster with 147 games split between the NAHL and the OJHL.

Unable to hold on to the lead in the final minutes, a 4-4 tie was unresolved in overtime and needed a shootout, where Hudtloff was the lone goal scorer cementing the 5-4 victory.

The Generals are currently carrying four goaltenders, so Friday afternoon the crease coverage was up to Nathan McFall and Keagin Wilson. The pair are both 2006-born netminders with McFall having just two games of Generals’ experience from last season, and Wilson, a Massachusetts native suiting up for his first taste NAHL action after spending last year with Belmont High School.

Head Coach and GM Bryan Erikson along with the rest of the coaching and scouting staff are now tasked with the toughest decisions following back-to back victories, but they will need to cut their roster down from 34 to 25 by Monday, September 1.

The Generals will then return to New Hampshire to begin the 2025-26 regular season with back-to-back games on September 13th and 14^th before the anticipated home opener at the Canton Ice House against Johnstown on Friday, September 19^th.