Bisons all tied up

Times Editor

 

After a tough loss to the top team in the league to end the month of November, the UFA Bisons started December with a pair of ties versus upper-echelon teams in the North Division.

The local triple-A midget team hit the road and earned a 1-1 draw versus the Leduc Oil Kings on Dec. 1, before taking a 2-2 tie with the top team in the North, the St. Albert Raiders the following day.

“I thought it was really good,” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen on the weekend. “If you take out our first period on Saturday in Leduc, we kind of took control of the game and probably didn’t get rewarded on some of our scoring chances we had. Their goalie played really well, but having said that, our goaltender was fantastic as well.”

After Leduc took a second period lead, the Bisons tied the game mid-way through the third period, when MacKenzie Bauer converted a feed from Matt Forchuk and Ryan Zeniuk. Goaltender Richard Palmer made 41 saves, including 17 in the second period.

The following day in St. Albert, the Bisons put forth a solid effort, playing very close to a complete game.

“We played pretty close to 60 minutes, it was just one of those games where we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” said Friesen. “It was a tight checking game with lots of body contact and good speed. At the end of the day, our power play went 0 for nine on the weekend, so if we could have popped one or two goals in each game, then it’s entirely different and we have a chance to blow it open.”

One concern that Friesen had was the team giving up the opening goal late in the second period in both games. However, as he noted, the team won both third periods in the two games.

After giving up the first goal late in the second period versus the Raiders, Markson Bechtold scored 54 second into the third period to tie the game, when he converted a feed from Tristan Thompson and Connor McCallum. St. Albert restored the lead shortly after, before Matt Forchuk took a pass from Bauer later in the third to earn the draw.

The Bisons, who moved into fifth place in the South Division, are now just four points back of the second seed. They are now preparing for the busiest stretch of the regular season, when they play seven games between Dec. 8-22.

Six of those games will be at the Strathmore Family Centre, including a pair this coming weekend when they host the CAC Gregg Distributors (Dec. 8, 5:30 p.m.) and the SSAC Athletics (Dec. 9, 2 p.m.).

“We have a busy month … before the Mac’s Tournament. We have some nagging injuries and the flu took its toll on the entire dressing room, so we’re just hoping we can stay healthy and turn the page here,” said Friesen. “If we can get on a run here at home and take care of what we need to do over the next six to seven games, I think that we’ll be in a pretty good spot heading into the Christmas break.”