Bisons pick their herd

Times Editor

 

Despite not winning one game in their exhibition tournament this past weekend, the UFA Bisons are confident in their future.

That was the message Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen conveyed after making the final cuts to his roster, immediately after the Sept. 13-16 tourney at the Strathmore Family Centre.

“It’s not about winning and losing at this point, it’s about challenging certain individual players to do things certain ways and try and see if they are capable of playing the game we need them to play,” said Friesen. “A lot of the guys did that and some guys didn’t, so that was the separation we were looking for. We definitely had some tough decisions to make and at the end of the day, that’s all we could ask for.

“We challenged them to leave everything out on the ice and to make things as challenging for us as they could. We definitely thought they did that.”

The Bisons opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Red Deer on Sept. 13, before posting a 4-4 tie the following day versus the Calgary Northstars.

The local triple-A midget team then suffered 7-4 loss on Saturday morning, before losing 4-0 to Red Deer in the semi-final later in the evening.

The Bisons finished off the tournament with a tight 3-2 loss to the Northstars on Sept. 16.

“The work ethic was always there – (but) it’s always challenging when you have kids who have never played together, come in and try and play the game the same way,” said Friesen. “A couple of things we really liked was our attention to detail to the minimal system stuff we had a chance to go over with. Every game we got better and more structured. 

“The end result was obviously not where we needed it to be, but it’s just little adjustments we have to make in our game (to be successful).”

According to Friesen, the Bisons are very skilled on defence, with a nice blend of offence and players who can shut down the opposition.

Up front, the Bisons have size and speed, which will enable them to bump and crash in the offensive zone. He believes there is a tremendous amount of depth up front.

With the team now selected, the goal is to use the time away from the rink to form a bond among the players. 

The Bisons will play one more exhibition game against the Canadian Women’s National Team on Sept. 26, before opening the season on the road.

The team will begin the regular season against the Calgary Royals on Sept. 28 (8 p.m., Stu Peppard Arena), before tangling with the Calgary Northstars on Sept. 30 (2:30 p.m., Father David Bauer Arena).

“We are excited to get (the season) going,” said Friesen. “We can’t wait.”