Bisons rally for fourth

Times Reporter   

 

Following a matchup of fiery emotions – a rough 2-1 loss to the St. Albert Sports Raiders – the UFA Bisons ended their regular season with a 3-1 win against CAC Gregg Distributors on Feb. 16 at home. This placed them in fourth for the upcoming playoffs; they had originally hoped for a first place, or second place finish, and a bye through to the second round.

“We played good this weekend during both games,” Bisons coach Dan MacDonald said. “You want to be good going into the playoffs. I just think that we could score more goals – we’re getting good chances, we just not getting as many goals as we’d like.”

Against St. Albert on Feb. 15, Matthew Forchuk tied up the game on the power play. St. Albert pulled ahead 2-1 at the beginning of the third, also on the man advantage, and held on for the rest of the night. Against CAC the following day, Forchuk again scored on the power play. Troy Van Tetering and Zach Giroux found the back of the net as well.

“I think (the game against CAC) really helped, because that team is fighting for first place in the North Division. So that’s a real good team we beat,” MacDonald said. “That helped ease the sting of Saturday (against St. Albert).”

The Bisons finished with 45 points. The Calgary Royals finished with 48 for second, and the Calgary Buffaloes placed third with 46. MacDonald’s squad will face off against the Calgary Flames for the first round, who had a 9-18-8 record in comparison to the Bisons’ 21-11-3.

“We feel confident about playing them,” MacDonald said. “But playoffs are always different, say if you get a hot goalie in a three game series. We have to score, it’s just something we have to keep working at.”

The Bisons won both matchups against the Flames this season – 3-1 on Dec. 21, and 3-2 on Feb. 2. 

The Bisons opened the best-of-three series with a home game on Feb. 19 at the Strathmore Family Centre (result not available as of press time).

Game 2 is slated for Feb. 22 (12:15 p.m.) in Calgary at the Father David Bauer Arena. If necessary, Game 3 will take place on Feb. 23 (2 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre. 

Should the Bisons be victorious through the first round, they will play either first-seeded Red Deer or second-seeded Calgary Royals – dependent on who wins the Lethbridge and Calgary Buffaloes series.