Bisons place 3rd

Aryssah Stankevitsch     

Times Reporter   

 

Thirty-three players competed in the Bisons Tournament this past weekend against two teams from Calgary, and one from Red Deer. The Bisons placed third out of the four teams, beating the Calgary North Stars on Sept. 15, 5-4, after losing to Red Deer the day before 3-1.

“They were all difficult,” said Head Coach of the Bisons, Dan MacDonald. “When you’re just testing out, it’s not an easy tournament. You’re testing different players every game. It’s more to evaluate the players than anything else. It’s an elite competition, that’s what you’re trying to achieve.”

The team is now cut down to 25, and will be trimmed even further after another tournament this weekend at Canada Olympic Park with the National Women’s Team.

“We discovered a lot,” MacDonald said. “We liked their efforts, they tried real hard. That’s the first thing you look for when you evaluate the players. The second thing is the potential they have to play in a league and to improve. We like what we see so far.”

In round robin, they defeated the North Stars 5-1, tied Red Deer 4-4, and lost to the Buffalos 5-1. MacDonald believes the team was on par with the other tournament squads.

“I think we are but that remains to be seen because again they’re playing different players too. It’s really hard to gauge those kind of things until you get into league play. They’re testing out all the new players they have, just like us,” he said.