Bisons look to break trend

 

Mario Prusina

Times Editor
 
After a slow start to the season in October, a good November and a disastrous December, the UFA Bisons were optimistic heading into January. 
The local triple-A midget team continued the good-month, bad-month trend by winning all their games in the first month of the New Year.
The Bisons swept all four January games, including two home games this past weekend at the Strathmore Family Centre.
They defeated a pair of division rivals, ousting the Lethbridge Pronghorns 7-3 on Jan. 19, before taking down the Calgary NW Flames 4-1 the following day.
“We’re hoping that trend is officially over,” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen. “With four games left (in the season), we don’t want to go back to the trail we already lived a couple of times this year.
“We’re healthy and we have a lot of time off before we play again. I think we have everybody reinvested and re-bought in to what we are trying to do in terms of a game plan.
“We’re starting to see the results of that, so there are a lot of positives.”
The Bisons opened the weekend by finally beating the pesky Lethbridge Pronghorns. After losing on the road and at the Mac’s Midget Hockey Tournament to the Horns, the Bisons were looking for revenge.
“I’m really proud of the way we stayed within the game plan,” said the coach. “That is the perfect example for everything we talked about. When we play down to their level and we get caught up in the mental head games they try and play with everybody, we get right off track. It was important for us to prove to ourselves that we can stay disciplined … anytime you can lay a little bit of beating on those guys, it feels (good).”
The Bisons returned to the ice 19 hours later and beat the Calgary Flames for the first time this season. According to Friesen, the Bisons ‘started a little flat’ before eventually finding their legs and getting better as the game went along.
“Our third period was great,” said Friesen. “It’s good because we are showing signs of team maturity where we can find different ways to win in different situations.”
The league will now take a break from regular season action, so most of the kids can focus on exam week at their respective high schools.
According to Friesen, the hope is to continue their solid play in the four remaining regular season games.
“Now it’s about carrying this momentum through the break and into the stretch run,” said the coach. “We’re in a pretty good spot, we’re four points out of second and our fate is in our own hands.”
The Bisons will travel to Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan Feb. 2-3, before returning home to close out the season Feb. 9-10 at the Strathmore Family Centre against Lloydminster and the Calgary Northstars.