Bisons take four

Times Editor

 

The UFA Bisons started the 2011 portion of their schedule with a pair of home wins Jan. 15 & 16 at the Strathmore Family Centre.

After Mother Nature postponed the team’s first game of the calendar year Jan. 8, the Bisons used a pair of come-from-behind wins to maintain their third place position in the AMHL South Division.

The Bisons defeated the Sherwood Park J. Ennis Kings 6-4 Jan. 16, a day after beating the Calgary Buffaloes 5-3.

“I thought for 40 minutes, we were in control of the game,” said Bisons head coach Parry Shockey after Sunday’s game. “It was a game that clearly needed structure from the officiating side – I’m not sure we got that – and our guys got frustrated with it and started acting out. What should have been a game that was clear-cut ours, was out there (for the taking).”

After scoring the first goal of the game, the Kings kept taking penalty after penalty. The Bisons took control of the game with three power play goals to close out the opening period. The Bisons scored two goals in the second period, including another powerplay goal, to take a commanding 5-1 lead.

However, after taking some penalties of their own, the Bisons allowed three goals in a span of 4:52 minutes to cause a nail-biting finish. 

The Bisons wracked up 24 penalty minutes, while the Kings were charged for 50 minutes worth of penalties.

Sherwood Park was clearly frustrated with the officials in the first half of the game, while the Bisons shared that same feeling in the third period.

“You know what? The last thing I’ve ever done is tried to whack a skunk with a broom,” said Shockey when asked about the officiating. “I’m not getting into that.”

Kirby Ruzesky, Jared Potter, Samuel McKechnie, Joshua Betinol, and Luke Philp each registered a goal and an assist, while Sam Johnson also scored for the Bisons.

“I thought we played really well,” said captain Cody Brown. “The first two periods, we can build off of that, there was nothing wrong with them. In the third period, you don’t want to dwell on any of that stuff. (We) have to take the win and not do that again. They were really mucking it up and the guys were falling into their trap.”

On Saturday night, the Bisons showed tremendous resiliency by climbing from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits midway through the game. 

However, the Bisons secured the win with four unanswered goals in the second half of the game.

“It was a really good game by us,” said the coach. “I thought the Buffaloes played a good game, I thought they came at us – but we battled back one at a time. We showed a lot of maturity.”

Connor Chartier scored twice to pace the Bisons offence, while Samuel McKechnie added a goal and an assist. Joshua Betinol and Torrin White also scored for the Herd, while Kirby Ruzesky and Simon Philp each added a pair of helpers.

“We all come focused and ready to play,” said Brown. “Everybody stuck to the game plan and everything flowed really nice.”

With the All-Star Game being played this coming weekend, the Bisons will play a pair of weekday road games. The team played the Calgary Flames Jan. 19 (result not available as of press time), before taking on the Calgary Royals Jan. 21 (8 p.m.) at Stu Peppard Arena.

Luke Philp and Torrin White will then represent the UFA Bisons at the 22nd Annual AMHL All-Star Game in Fort Saskatchewan Jan. 23.