In an electric Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex, the Lacombe Generals dropped Game 1 to the Stony Plain Eagles in the final round of the Chinook Hockey League playoffs on Saturday.

It was a disappointing 6-4 loss to the Eagles, but Head Coach Curtis Austring has been around the game long enough to know that it’s only one game.

“We’re disappointed with the result for sure, but I think everybody is engaged in the series now and it didn’t take long to get some in animosity (in the series),” said Austring.

“We’ve got one under our belt and that will help us going into Game 2. We’ve got a good group and I think we’ll bounce back.”

With a two-week break in between series, Austring said the team had a little bit of trouble trying to find their game.

“You could see some rust as far as timing and game speed, but on a whole, it’s a tough battle and you’re not always going to get enough room out there to make plays,” said Austring.

Despite the rust, Austring said he liked how his team competed except for a few bad penalties.

“I can’t fault the effort because we put the effort in, but again we have to be more disciplined and stay out the box,” said Austring.

A scary incident took place midway through the third period when Eagles captain Ryan Smyth took a heavy hit from Generals big man Kyle Sheen after scoring his second goal of the game.

“It’s a fast game at the end of the day and to be honest I didn’t really see all of the realities there. (Smyth) was cutting a across the middle to make a play at the net and our guy was back checking hard,” said Austring.

“It’s unfortunate and we hope he’s okay.”

Generals look to tie the series up at 2 in Stony Plain on Tuesday before heading home for Game 3 on Friday.