Bisons make a point

Times Reporter

 

After their first game of the season, UFA Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen knows that there are a lot of things to work on with his hockey club.

That being said, he is very pleased with the team’s overall performance in their home opener versus the Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Kevin O’Rourke and Alex Bechtold each scored and goaltender Wilson Sproule made 20 saves, as the Bisons earned a 2-2 draw versus the Pronghorns Oct. 2 at the Strathmore Family Centre.

“I thought we had some really good opportunities – I thought we saw some good things,” said Friesen “Our d-zone was not too bad – it’s fairly new to a lot of the guys and we’re still adjusting. Our penalty killing was fantastic.

“All-in-all, for the first game of the year, I think we saw a lot of good things and that’s a good starting point.”

According to Friesen, he was happy with the offence and the way they controlled the puck and the way the defence joined the rush. 

With that in mind, he felt that there were points in the game where the Bisons dominated the play.

“I thought we out-chanced them, (but) we need to take advantage of our scoring opportunities,” said the coach. “We need to make sure that it doesn’t come down to one goal in the third period. We had enough opportunities where we should have put them away early.”

Bisons veteran and newly-appointed captain Mitch McAllister echoed those thoughts.

“We had great scoring chances – we outplayed them a lot of the game, but we had a couple of mental lapses,” said the Chestermere native. “In the end, it’s a 60 minute game and we come out with a point.

“Our depth is a big part (of our success) – we have a lot of guys who can put the puck in the back of the net. Also we have d-men that can control the backend and our goaltending is solid as well.

“I can’t wait to get the season rolling.”

Despite the nerves that most of the players felt early on, they were excited to get the season underway. According to O’Rourke, who notched his first career triple-A midget goal, things started a little rough, but the nerves quickly faded as the game went on.

He settled down enough to notch a beauty goal.

“I saw the puck open on the far boards, so I picked it up. I had a lane, put it on net and luckily it went in,” described O’Rourke of his goal. “It felt unbelievable as you can probably tell by the celebration. It was (really) good.”

The Bisons will now hit the road for a pair of games against North Division opponents. The team will take on the Lloydminster Bobcats and Edmonton’s J. Ennis Kings on Oct. 8-9 respectively.

According to Friesen, “it’s the perfect time to do it. It was a long process to finally get the roster (set) and I think it’s going to be good just to get them away.

“It’s going to be quite the hike up to Lloydminster, so it’s going to be good team building-wise … to spend time with each other and get to know each other. 

“The more comfortable they are off the ice (with each other), the more comfortable they are on the ice.”