Bisons gain valuable divisional points

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The CFR Bisons picked up crucial early season interdivisional victories over some skilled teams in the Calgary NWCAA Flames and the Calgary Buffaloes by identical 4-2 this past weekend at the Strathmore Family Centre.
“We laid it out as the biggest weekend for us as far as where we are in the standings,” said Bisons head coach Sandy Henry. “And how much it would get us some security in the standings as far as moving up a little bit. I think the boys responded real well. Our effort level was outstanding every game. We just don’t back down from anything anymore, we come out and go at it.”
Henry said what made the difference in both wins was the consistent starts the team has been having right out of the gate and getting their game plan down early in the contests.
“I thought we took it to both teams right off face off number one, and showed them that we’re going to be hard to play against,” said Henry. “We had 10 real good minutes in the first period to start with today (Sunday versus the Flames). I thought they gained a little bit of momentum maybe through the last 10 minutes.
“Then I thought in the second we got going again. We’re getting close to that 60 minute effort every night and that gives us a chance to win every night.”
The Bisons had a lot of puck possession in the game against the Flames, which Henry thought was a strong point in knocking off the division leader.
“We had the puck more than they did,” he said. “When you have the puck, their guys are ineffective. I thought our defense gapped up well. We didn’t let too much pressure get deep in our zone. As a team I think we locked up the middle of the ice in our zone pretty good. The third part of that was our goaltender was outstanding.”
Zach Cox, Gary Haden, Quaid McBean and Kyle Gordon scored in the win over the Buffaloes.
Gordon notched two goals, while Tanner Foster and Matthew Davies scored one each in the victory over the Flames.
The Bisons – who currently is in third place in the South Division – will be back on home ice on Dec. 5 when they host the Leduc Oil Kings at 5:15 p.m., before taking on the MLAC Beverly Optimists on Dec. 6 at 2 p.m.