Bisons off to strong start at Mac’s
Justin Seward
Times Reporter
Miriam Ostermann Photo
CFR Bisons vs. Yorkton Maulers Dec. 26 at Father David Bauer Arena
The CFR Bisons opened the 38th annual Mac’s midget tournament with a 4-1 win over the Yorkton Maulers on Boxing Day, in a game where the team allowed very few chances.
Head coach Sandy Henry thought there was some uncertainty as to how the team was going to come out and perform after a mini holiday break.
“We were maybe a little tentative about the game, big tournament, guys feeling the nerves a little bit,” said Henry. “I really thought we pushed the pace up … and eventually Yorkton wasn’t able to maintain that pace we wanted to play at.”
Veteran Zach Vinnell said that allowing the first did not discourage them and for the Bisons to not give up was key to winning the game.
“They came out hot yesterday and got up a goal on us, but we didn’t give up on that and kept going,” said Vinnell. “We came out with the win there and that felt good.”
Gary Haden notched the hat trick, while Liam Izyk had one goal in the win.
CFR Bisons vs. Ontario Avalanche Dec. 27 at Max Bell Centre
The CFR Bisons kept up with their winning ways in the early stages of the Mac’s midget tournament by beating the California-based Ontario Avalanche 9-1 at the Max Bell Centre on Dec. 27.
However, head coach Sandy Henry said his team did not play up to their potential in this contest.
“I thought we fell back to their level,” said Henry. “Some bad habits moving the puck because it’s easy. It was too easy today and the message in there today was we were disappointed with how the team played and the effort we had. That’s not going to be acceptable.”
He added that it was hard to play against that sluggish style of hockey, but to get the win was their goal and they wanted their goal differential to be as good it could be.
“We’ve gave up two goals in two games and we’ve kept them to one goal,” said Henry. “I’m happy with that part. Now we get into the meat of the round robin and we’ll see. I said we’ll find out tomorrow where we’re at (Monday vs. Lloydminster).”
Vinnell said the team had a great start but thinks the team has to have a better third period.
“I thought it went pretty well,” said Vinnell. “We worked pretty well as a team at the start, which put us up on the board. I thought it went pretty well that way. We’re a much better team than that in the third period. We didn’t play our game. They dominated us most of that period, there’s more to come from us.”
Izyk and Cameron Shorrock had two goals each, while Vinnell, Haden, Zach Cox, Jackson Salt, and Quaid McBean all scored in the win.
CFR Bisons vs. Lloydminster Bobcats Dec. 28 Father David Bauer Arena
The CFR Bisons learned the hard way about not capitalizing on their chances at opportune times as they lost their first game of the Mac’s tournament 5-0 to the Lloydminster Bobcats on Dec. 28.
“I think we went head-to-head hard for 40 minutes,” said head coach Sandy Henry.
“They got a couple of goals and we got our chances to get our goals and didn’t get them. They inched ahead slowly in the third. It felt like a little of the energy went out of the game as a whole, especially when the fourth one went in.”
Henry said he liked their jump out of the gate, but they had to overcome some adversity after losing two guys early in the game.
“We had to adjust, (and) guys picked up the slack,” said Henry. “We went at them hard and just kept creeping a step further behind and weren’t able to keep that gap closed. Eventually they got away from us at the end.”
Bisons captain Kyle Gordon thought the difference in the game was that the Bobcats capitalized on their opportunities and his team couldn’t bury theirs
“We had just as many chances as them, maybe even as good … as them and we didn’t put it in and they did,” said Gordon.
He added that the problem wasn’t that the Bobcats were giving them a different look, as he felt they were right with them for 40 minutes, but said the difference was that the Bisons let a few pucks get away from them.
“This is probably one of the best teams in our league and (we need to) take what we did wrong and get ready for tomorrow because we got to win that one,” said Gordon.