Bisons are Telus Cup bound

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The UFA Bisons have made history once again as for the first time in the team’s history they will represent the Pacific region at the Telus Cup in Riviere-du-Loup, Que. from April 20-26.
The Herd was able to sweep the Pacific Region Finals with a 4-2 win on April 3 and a 5-0 victory on April 4 over the Vancouver NE Chiefs to book their trip to the national championship.
Bisons assistant coach Sandy Henry admitted the start could have been better in the opening game, but he liked how the boys were able to work through that and take care of business.
“(In Game 1), it was a little closer than it should’ve been, we didn’t do as good a job capitalizing on our chances we were creating and left them in it. They got one on the power play and then it’s a game,” said Henry. “I thought we took care of business pretty good, maybe weren’t quite as good as the second. In third, the guys got a couple goal lead, (and) were able to shut it down.”
According to Henry, it was a good way to start the series.
“I don’t think we could have gone out any better,” said Henry. “We went in their end and were pretty relentless, they had a pretty hard time with us and I think we started to make our identity known to them and frustrated them a little bit.
“They got back in that game … I think we had a few more penalties than we have been getting.”
The Bisons limited the Chiefs chances in the final frame and were able to take control from there.
“In the third, we were confident that we’re going to get the effort we needed,” said Henry. “I think our conditioning was good and we jumped out and got a couple of goals on them and were able to pull it off.”
The Chiefs started the second game with some push early on as it appeared they had no quit in them, but the Bisons were able to start where they left off in Game 1 to weather the attack.
“They had some push early in the game (and) weren’t going to give up, but again we got the first goal and built from there and played out our game plan,” said Henry. “(We) finished checks … (we) frustrated them by what we did with the puck.”
The Telus Cup will be a new experience for the whole team, but having head coach Dan MacDonald being there before, it will help immensely with preparation.
“It’s a bit surreal for us, I’ve certainly never been there before but Dan has, and has echoed that based on his experience this team really started to develop the parts needed to be successful,” said Henry. “Even before the playoffs, he believed that we could have a real long run as long as our consistency stayed there and stayed on the plan for things that we were good at. As it turns out he was 100 per cent right.”
The coaching staff noticed that the boys are not done yet as the focus is still on bringing home the Telus Cup.
“It’s fun to have championships and keep going, but at the same time when we got on the bus, I think they all see they want to continue on, and by no means they’ve done enough yet,” said Henry. “They want to make sure they’re a good representation for the Pacific region and think they have a real good chance to win the whole thing.”