Bisons edge Flames

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The CFR Bisons picked up a crucial two points with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Jan 10, playing a defensively sound game compared to two nights prior, where they were caught playing from behind and lost to first place Red Deer 6-4.
Bisons head coach Sandy Henry thought it was pivotal that they turned it around against the Flames because it was good for the team mentally and allowed them to stay one point behind.
“Points are pretty critical right now,” said Henry. “We’ve got ourselves in a better spot now. We’ve got a couple of teams that have to win to keep up to us now and a couple teams looking at us in the rearview mirror. The division is so tight now that every point you get is either keeping you up with the leaders or if you don’t get them, you’re sitting down with the guys that are going to be battling to make a playoff spot.”
Henry thought it was important to jump on the Flames right off the get-go and that was key in their success for the rest of the game.
“I thought we got out on the Flames real quick,” said Henry. “They had a little trouble getting out of their end. We got the chances out of that, got out of the first period with a 1-0 lead and that was good for us mentally. From there we just built on that. In third period we asked them to be more defensively conscious. We thought we were maybe giving up too many odd man situations in the second period, maybe pushing too hard for the offense.”
According to Henry, he saw more dedication, noticing that the team made sure they were accountable and took the offense as it came.
Cole Clayton, Tyson Scott and Matt Halkovic scored in the win.
In Red Deer, the Bisons were down 5-2 halfway through the third, but Henry felt that wasn’t indicative of the how the team played.
“I think they took advantage of a couple of breakdowns,” said Henry.
“I remember making the comment on the bench to the guys, ‘we can make a choice and roll over here or are we going to push back and see where it takes us.’ I think I liked the response at that point where we get the two quick goals back and honestly with lots of time left to get ourselves back in the game.”
He added that they will take this game as a learning curve to know how to play a full 60 minutes and not just playing a solid 40 minutes and expect to win.
Clayton, Halkovic, Gary Haden and Kyle Gordon scored in the loss.
The Bisons will get a chance at redemption against Red Deer as they will host them on Jan. 15 (8 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre, and the Calgary Northstars will be in town the following day at 5:15 p.m.