Bisons beaten, battered and bruised

Times Editor

 

It was an extremely disappointing weekend for the UFA Bisons, after a pair of home defeats versus North Division opponents.

The Bisons lost 4-3 to the K of C Pats on Dec. 15, giving up the game winner with 40 seconds left, before falling 4-3 to the Grande Prairie Storm the following day.

“I don’t know if there is a word for it,” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen, trying to describe the latest loss. “We came out really flat, got into some penalty trouble in the second period, even when we started to get some momentum, we took a penalty, then another penalty, then another. We’re a hockey team that needs to stay 5-on-5 or better and get everybody involved. When you take penalties, you break chemistry in your lines and you take away the flow in the game.

“You get our backs up against the wall in the second and now you’re trying to play desperate hockey in the third – this isn’t the league to try and do that in.

“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again. I’d say right now (the way we’re playing), we’re insane.”

The Bisons fell behind 3-0 before finally registering their first goal. Affiliate players Tyler Sharuga took a feed from Dalton Dubetz to open the scoring. Markson Bechtold pulled the Bisons within one after burying a breakaway feed from Jake Dube, before the Pats iced the game. Bechtold pulled the herd within a goal late in the game, hammering a tic-tac-toe play from Conner McCallum and Mason McCarty.

“They’re a team that if you let them stick around and hang out with you, they’re going to bite you in the (butt) – and they did,” said Friesen. “It’s not surprising, I think our guys have to do some soul-searching and come together as a group.”

On Saturday, the Bisons fell behind 2-0 before scoring a pair of goals in the second period. Jake Dube and affiliate player Dalton Dubetz evened the score, before Tyler Sharuga gave the Bisons a one-goal lead in the third period. 

The Pats evened the scoring later in the third period, before scoring the game winner with just 40 seconds remaining.

“It was very, very disappointing,” said Friesen. “We came out a little flat and we didn’t attack the net. We got down in the first period and went down 2-0 in the second and then found our legs. We responded and evened up the game and took the lead and we thought we were rolling from there. 

“A couple of lazy plays (cost us). The hockey Gods, I think, kind of bit us …  and it’s good. I’d rather lose than get a tie in that situation as awkward as that would sound … but you learn more from losses and they sting a little bit more and that’s what we need to go through.

“When you cheat and take shortcuts, the hockey Gods are usually going to come back and get you. We’ve seen it time and time again.”

After traveling to take on the Calgary Northstars (Dec. 19, result not available as of press time), the Bisons will cap off the 2012 portion of their regular season with a pair of home games.

The Herd will host the Sherwood Park Kings on Dec. 21 (8 p.m.), before hosting the Calgary Buffaloes the following day (5:15 p.m.).