Bisons continue to climb

Times Editor   

 

Sparked by a six-game winning streak, the UFA Bisons have vaulted all the way to third place in the Chrysler (South) Division of the AMHL.

After a disastrous October to start the season, the local triple-A midget team remains undefeated in the month of November, including a pair of road wins in Edmonton this past weekend.

The Bisons defeated the Knights of Columbus 3-2 on Nov. 17, before posting a 4-0 over the MLAC United Cycle Maple Leafs the following day.

“This weekend was fantastic,” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen. “We talked a lot about how we wanted to carry over some of our home success on the road. As you know, the road hasn’t been a place that has treated us too well so far this year, so it was important to keep working on the things we (needed to improve on).” 

The Bisons opened the weekend with a solid win over the Pats. After building a 3-0 lead, the herd held on to the one goal win.

“Our forecheck and our start on Saturday in the first game in the first period was probably the best period of hockey we played all year,” said Friesen. “We got out to a 2-0 lead early on and it easily could have been, four, five, six nothing … their goaltender played outstanding and we just dominated them.

“We had all four lines going on the forecheck and cycling the puck down low, creating chaos and havoc in front of their net.

“We kind of pulled back and got off track (in the third period) … but we snuck out with the win. It was a good lesson for us in terms of being able to shut down the opposition in the last five minutes and kill a penalty.

“It’s always nice when you can learn how to win in those situations and our guys sacrificed a lot to block some shots and chip pucks out.”

Mark Nerland, Connor McCallum and Ryan Zeniuk each scored once to lead the way for the Bisons, while netminder Richard Palmer made 37 saves to preserve the win.

Meanwhile against the Leafs, the Bisons posted their first shutout of the season.

“On Sunday we got Grayson Sharpe back in the net and he was outstanding for us,” said Friesen. “We started a little slow and he made a couple of big saves and that got the guys going … we had a 3-0 lead going into the third and this time we learned our lesson. We let up a little bit, but we called a timeout and kind of refocused, got another goal and never looked back.

“It’s nice to get the first shutout of the year, for sure, especially on the road.”

Affiliate player Dalton Dubetz scored a goal and added an assist, while Brody Valette and Mason McCarty added a pair of assists in the win. Sharpe made 38 saves while Mackenzie Bauer, Keifer Schaufler and Tristan Thompson each scored once.

The Bisons will now face the top team in the league on Nov. 23 (8 p.m.) when they host the Red Deer Chiefs at the Strathmore Family Centre.