Bisons prepare for battle with Flames

Times Editor

 

Despite finishing the regular season with a .500 record, the head coach of the UFA Bisons believes his team has what it takes to be successful in the post season.

Jeremy Friesen, in his third season with the organization and second as head coach, sees something special in the collection of players he helped assemble way back in September.

“There is no question,” said Friesen when asked if his team has what it takes for a long playoff run. “It’s going to come down to timely goaltending and special team play. We have a lot of depth, we have a lot of character and the room is really tight as well. They’re a great group of kids and they respect each other and they pull for each other. 

“That’s what has been different than years past, you had a group here and other group over here … yes, they’re on the same team, but you don’t get that family cohesion. 

“This group is different, they really do have an opportunity to do something special, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work and a complete buy-in.”

The fourth-ranked Bisons will host the fifth-ranked Calgary NW Flames in the first round of the AMHL South Playoffs.

After a 16-16-2 season, the Bisons edged out the 12-13-9 Flames by one point.

Despite their losing record, Friesen cautioned that the offensive-minded Flames have the ability to get hot in short spurts.

“They’ve got some speed and they’ve got some skill up front,” said Friesen. “We think that if we can get a lot of traffic and pucks on net on their goaltenders, then we can make life a little more miserable for them.

“We know that if we pressure their D and forecheck them really hard, we take away a lot of time and space.

“We know that we’re going to have to be really defensively responsible – we don’t want to get into a river-type of hockey game with them.”

Game 1 of the best-of-three series was held on Feb. 21 at the Strathmore Family Centre (result not available as of press time).

Game 2 will take place Feb. 23 (2:30 p.m.) at the Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary. Game 3, if necessary, will take place Feb. 24 (2 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre.