Bisons third, looking for second

Times Reporter   

 

The UFA Bisons beat the St. Albert Sports Raiders on Nov. 10 by a score of 6-4; they also defeated CAC Gregg Distributors Oct. 20 by a 5-3 score. This weekend, the Bisons must repeat both wins to have a chance at getting a first round bye for the AMHL playoffs.

“The biggest thing is we’re getting ready for the playoffs, so we just want to do things right. That’s what we’re really focused on – being good defensively and moving the puck,” Bisons coach Dan MacDonald said. “The things we’re good at we want to be good at going into the playoffs. These two games are like a preview of the playoffs for us. We want to be good and tight.”

The Bisons will host St. Albert on Feb. 15, and CAC on Feb. 16. Though they’ve won against both, CAC has three more points in the North Division. The Sports Raiders are middle of the North, and may be an easier team to handle.

“You just do the best you can. Obviously we want to win, it doesn’t change anything from any other weekend,” MacDonald said. 

After suffering an injury-plagued season, the Bison bench will be full for their last two remaining games.

“We’ve got everybody back,” MacDonald said. “We’ve got a full team and that’s helpful.”

The Red Deer Optimist Chiefs are too far gone to catch at the top of the Chrysler Division with 48 points. The Calgary Royals and Calgary Buffaloes both have 46 points to the Bisons’ 43. The Bisons will have to hope the Royals lose to Fort Saskatchewan on Feb. 15, and that the Buffaloes lose to St. Albert on Feb. 16, for that second- place first- round by – but the Bisons must win their two games for that to occur.

If a tie occurs in the standings, it is broken by the two teams’ records against one another. The Bisons defeated the Royals twice this season, but split their series with the Buffaloes; the Bisons won 4-1 on Sept. 27, whereas Calgary won 8-4 on Feb. 1. The next way a tie is broken is by goals, in which the Buffaloes would have the edge of 9 goals scored to the Bisons 8 in the series.

In current standings, the third place Bisons would play the sixth place Calgary Flames in a best of three series. However, everything could change after this weekend.