Bisons clinch playoff berth

Times Editor

 

It was a bad weekend on the scoreboard, but a great weekend in the standings for the UFA Bisons.

The local triple-A midget team failed to win either of their home weekend games, but managed to clinch a berth in the playoffs by gaining one point in the standings.

The Bisons opened the weekend with a 6-3 loss to Calgary Northstars on Jan. 27 at the Strathmore Family Centre, before earning a 4-4 draw versus the K of C Pats on Jan. 29, clinching fifth place in the South Division.

“That’s the positive I guess,” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen of the weekend. “No moving up and no moving down, I think we’re pretty entrenched in fifth. At the end of the day, anywhere from sixth to third is where we wanted to be – you don’t have home ice advantage in that first game, but you’re going to have to win on the road eventually and we’ve been just as successful on the road as we have at home.

“It is what it is and we’ll have to make the best of it – we’ve king of dug ourselves our own spot as far as where we’re at (by) giving away points. We’ve let teams stick around and this is the result and the state we’ve created for ourselves.

“No sense looking back at what was, we just have to make sure we’ve learnt our lesson and get prepared for what’s ahead.”

In the first game, the Bisons’ struggling power play cost them the win, as they went a disastrous 0-9 with the man advantage. After giving up the tying goal late in the second period to make it 2-2, the Bisons had a five-on-three for a full two minutes early in the third frame that went fruitless. 

Shortly after, the Northstars scored four goals in the final 7:55 of the game to clinch the win.

“It’s almost like when we get a power play, we slow the entire game down,” said Friesen. “We don’t pay attention, we don’t execute plays, we miss guys on the tape (with passes) … we think we have all this extra time and space to get added creativity and ‘be the guy to make the play.’

“Well, it doesn’t work … we’re not getting the results. Honestly, I think it’s time to give other players an opportunity and not settle for guys who are not going to do what we want them to do.

“We can’t keep giving the same guys an opportunity for not performing.”

The Bisons then played their final regular season home game against the Pats, settling for the one point that clinched their playoff spot. 

Despite going up 1-0, the Bisons gave up three unanswered goals before scoring three of their own.

With the 4-3 lead, the Bisons gave up the tying goal with just 2:12 remaining in the game.

“It ended up in a tie, and to be honest with you, I like the way we played,” said the coach. “Our power play was better – we didn’t get the results we wanted to, but our puck movement, attention to detail and our willingness to attack the net was much better. We made four defensive mistakes where our d-men were trying to make plays that weren’t there and those four mistakes ended up in the back of our net.”

The Bisons, who have gone 1-5-2 since returning from the Mac’s Tournament, will finally take a weekend off as the league hosts its annual all-star game.

According to Friesen, the break will help the Bisons get rejuvenated for the final three games of the regular season – all on the road – before the playoffs start.

“The break is absolutely huge – we’ve been challenging these guys a lot and putting pressure on them,” said the coach. “It will give them a chance to get away from the rink, focus, recharge and realize how much fun they have when they come to the rink and play this game.

“I think it will help them out down the stretch here and hopefully we can benefit from it.”