Bisons bow out early from Mac’s
By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter
Tyler Lowey Photo
The Airdrie Bisons only carried one regular from the Strathmore team, but still featured a handful of players who were affiliated with last year’s club and a local product.
The Strathmore Bisons reached the semi-final last year, before losing out to the Saskatoon Contacts. The Airdrie Bisons sustained an early loss that held them back from advancing any further in the 40th installment of the Mac’s.
“This tournament has kind of been the story of our year. We start slow, don’t battle for a full 60 and struggle to score. We needed to pot the ones in front of the net,” said Bisons Head Coach Dan Gendur.
“We had a winnable game in our first game and it got away from us. After that, it was hard to come back from that.”
The Bisons opened the tourney with a 5-3 loss to the Valley West Hawks Dec. 26 at Flames Community Arena.
An affiliated player last year, Luke Jensen opened the scoring in the first and the Bisons led 3-2 with a pair of goals from Jake Petrie, but couldn’t hold off the Hawks in the second half.
Nolan Krogfoss netted a power play goal to close the second, and opened the third with an even-strength marker for the eventual game-winner.
In the second game of the tourney, a game the Bisons needed to stay alive, the one carryover from last year’s team put the team on his back.
Local product Mark Zachary jumped on the score sheet first for the Bisons, as he converted a passing play from Jacob Cathcart and last year’s affiliated player Ethan Strang at the 7:31 mark of the opening frame.
The Ontario Jr. Reign registered the next three goals before the Bisons closed out the third in convincing fashion.
Jett Jones and Tristan Lambert brought the Bisons within one, when Cayde Augustine sent a point blast on the power play through the 5-hole with 4:13 remaining in regulation.
“That goal was a momentum changer and it was a big change from the way the tourney had been going. We didn’t control the game for the first 30 minutes but we closed out pretty strong,” said Augustine. “It was really fun to be a part of a win like that. The boys were smiling and having a good time, everyone was loving it.”
Last season, in 33 games with the Bisons, Augustine didn’t score but picked up eight assists. This year, he is an alternate captain on the Bisons. He has six goals and 12 points in 24 games.
“Cayde (Augustine) has all the skill in the world. He took on the leadership role without us asking him to and he has run with it. He has been great with us,” said Gendur, who is also a big fan of the lone Strathmore product on the Bisons.
“Mark (Zachary) is a big body and has excellent hands. He’s a great playmaker for us and performed really well this tourney.”
A 4-0 blanking by the Regina Pat Canadians Dec. 28 at Father David Bauer Arena all but sealed the fate for the Bisons.
Playing out the string, they took on the host Calgary Northstars in their feature game Dec. 9 at the Max Bell Centre.
Petrie was able to pull the Bisons within one when his bad-angled shot snuck in on the power play, but that was as close as the Bisons would get.
“There were definitely some positives to be taken away from this tournament and things we can work on moving forward. I thought our guys showed great resiliency in playing four games in four days — you never see a schedule anywhere else like that. Our goal was to advance to the next round, but we have a new team here and some things to work on so we can come back next year and be successful,” said Gendur.
The Bisons have their work cut out for them back in the Alberta Midget Hockey League, as they currently sit last in the Chrysler Division with a 7-15-2 record, 12 points out of a final playoff spot with 12 games remaining.