Bisons sweep weekend games

Times Editor

 

For the first time this season, the UFA Bisons successfully swept a pair of weekend games.

The local triple-A midget team defeated the Southeast Tigers 7-3 on Nov. 3, before posting a 6-3 win over the Calgary Royals the following day.

“It is definitely satisfying, the guys are pretty excited – they had a lot of positive energy on the bench,” said a relieved Bisons head coach, Jeremy Friesen. “We prepared all week for it – we’ve been through a lot as a team, we talked about that, and we knew going forward we’d have to take less short cuts within our structure.

“We really had to bear down and execute, limit the amount of turnovers we’ve had and really clean up our first periods. I think we did that (this weekend).”

After losing to both opponents on the road earlier this season, the Bisons evened the season series with a pair of wins at the Strathmore Family Centre.

The Bisons opened the weekend by scoring early and taking a 4-1 lead against the Southeast Tigers, whose only win of the season came at the expense of the Bisons.

“Their only win of the season was against us, so that’s something that (didn’t sit well with us),” said Friesen. “We had a great start, we scored the first shift, 10 seconds in and then we got rewarded a couple of shifts later, both of those were the result of a strong forecheck. After we went up 4-1, we kept it really simple.”

Meanwhile, the following day against the Royals, it was a bit of a role reversal. Instead of taking a lead, the Bisons fell behind 3-1 midway through the second period. A goal with 3:39 left in the middle frame gave the Bisons a spark.

After killing a penalty early in the third period, the Bisons scored four unanswered goals, including two power play markers to earn a 6-3 win.

“That third period was huge for us,” said Friesen after the win. “I thought we dominated the play entirely and when we needed a save, we got a save. We had all four lines going, our forecheck was really successful and we were all over them, which resulted in a couple of power play opportunities for us. 

“Our power play, we’ve had a lot of puck possession (during the course of the season), but today it was nice to see us bury a goal or two when we really needed it to make a difference in the game.

“We talked a lot about how we needed to simplify (our power play) … get pucks to the net with bodies there and they did it. It’s nice to see them do something we’ve practiced.”

The win was a little sweeter for Friesen, as his good friend and former UFA Bisons coach Parry Shockey was on the bench for the Royals, while their head coach Jay Pylypuik is away with Team Alberta for the U16 Challenge Cup (which includes current Bisons Brady Reagan and Mason McCarty).

“It feels good especially in this rink – the role he was playing there was (not really in a coaching capacity) – if I was coaching against him, it would have been that much sweeter,” laughed Friesen. “At the end of the day, he was over there and we kicked his (butt) in our building. So that feels good and he’s going to hear about it.”

The Bisons will now prepare host St. Albert on Nov. 10 (8:45 p.m.) and Leduc the following day (7:15 p.m.) as part of the AMHL Showcase Weekend at the Strathmore Family Centre. All 18 teams in the league will convene in Strathmore and play two regular season games during the weekend.