Bisons tied for first

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The CFR Bisons are sitting in a three-way tie for first with the Calgary Flames and the Red Deer Chiefs after two crucial road wins, beating the Grande Peace Storm 6-2 on Feb. 6 and the St. Albert Raiders 2-1 on Feb. 7.
Bisons head coach Sandy Henry said the boys played with an identity where the team was moving the puck well and played with speed through the neutral zone, an area they were working on as of late.
“I think we gained some confidence with our play lately,” said Henry. “I thought on the weekend for the most part we had 60-minute efforts. We got out in the game pretty well at times where we really started to push the play right off the bat. I think our conditioning was at a point where we don’t tire very easily and we were able to keep coming at teams.”
The Bisons were able to make the hometown Storm chase them all night long because of effective puck possession and their play down low while getting it out of their end quickly.
“I think it’s a combination of mindset and the training is starting to show, working on specific things that we weren’t quite good enough at and they’re starting to grasp those concepts,” said Henry.
In the St. Albert game, the score was more flattering than how the play was as Henry stated that the Bisons dominated and couldn’t get the puck to go in, all while having to kill a major penalty at the end.
Tyler Petrie and Liam Izyk scored against the Raiders.
Izyk led the way with two goals while Kyle Gordon, Tyson Scott, Quaid McBean, Kaden Hanas and Gary Haden scored in the win against the Storm.
The club will conclude the regular season when they head to Leduc to face the Oil Kings on Feb. 13 at 2:15 p.m. before playing the MLAC Beverly Optimists on Feb. 14 at 2:15 p.m.