Bisons off to hot start

Justin Seward
Times Reporter
Doug Taylor Photo

 

The CFR Bisons have pushed the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs to the brink of elimination after a 4-3 win in Game 3 at the Strathmore Family Centre on Feb. 28 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Bisons Head Coach Sandy Henry said after a slow start to the contest, where Red Deer had a strong start, they talked about winning the possession between the two blue lines by making sure the puck got out of their end quickly while getting the puck in deep into the opposition’s end.
“The things that went wrong the other day went right for us today,” said Henry. “I thought we had a chance to win that game also and it went their way that day. I was happy with the guys. We talked about our defensive zone after the first period and it really improved and I think we started to really cut down on their opportunities they were getting from us.”
He mentioned that the boys were effective all game long, with sustained back pressure into the rush on Red Deer’s players, while the defense kept the offense in front.
“I think we got a little more aggressive in the defensive zone,” said Henry. “We got good attack pressures on the puck quickly. (We) forced them to move the puck before they wanted to sometimes and they couldn’t find that guy in the elite scoring spot as much. I thought Hunter (Virostek) was good again today, he’s been dynamite for three games and that helps us to, you got to have that in playoffs.”
However, in the heated battle that this game was, penalties began to mount and Henry mentioned a lot of them were hardworking hockey plays, but nonetheless was impressed with the overall special teams performance where they were in the plus category by games end.
Veteran forward Gary Haden said they were lucky to be tied at one after the first period but getting their feet moving and playing their game became a big factor in the win.
“We started to move our feet a lot faster and started drawing penalties,” said Haden.
“Our special teams were huge for us. We had a shorthanded goal and two power play goals, that’ll win you any game. We got to stay consistent.”
Tyler Petrie, Cole Clayton, Kyle Gordon and Tyson Scott scored in the win.
Game 2 saw Bisons being defeated 4-2 by the Chiefs on Feb. 26 in Red Deer, in a game where the team was down a man as defenseman Tanner Foster sustained an injury.
“It put a lot of pressure on our other five defensemen,” said Henry. “I think as a team we got a little anxiety about it for some reason and the game as a whole. I thought we tried to force pucks without moving our feet. We tried to make stationary plays and put it through spots where they did.”
Haden and Matthew Davies scored in the loss.
In Game 1, the Bisons were firing on all cylinders and never looked back en route to a 4-1 series opening victory in Strathmore on Feb. 24.
Henry stated that they had been comfortable with their home ice all year and carried it into the game where they were able to use their speed to wear down Red Deer for a good portion of the game.
Petrie, Haden, Gordon and Jackson Salt rounded out the scoring.
The Bisons had the chance to close out the series on the road at the Red Deer Arena at 7:30 p.m. on March 1. Game 5, if necessary, will take place in Strathmore at 6:30 p.m. on March 5.