Bisons earn stranglehold of Copperheads
Hockey: Okotoks takes 2-0 lead over Coaldale in HJHL playoffs
The Okotoks Bisons have taken a stranglehold in their quarterfinal series with Coaldale after a pair of convincing wins last weekend.
The Bisons notched lopsided 6-1 and 5-1 victories Feb. 18 and 19 in Okotoks over the Coaldale Copperheads in their Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) best-out-of-seven quarterfinal series. Following a 12-day layoff from the regular season and a bye through the first round of the playoffs, the Bisons were slow out of the gate in game one, explained head coach Mike Hannigan.
“We were a little nervous in the first 10 minutes. I think our guys were thinking about it for a week and a half and it showed, the sticks were a little tight,” Hannigan said. “Once we got relaxed we played a little bit better.”
The teams skated to a 1-1 draw through 18 minutes on goals from Bison Lane Wagner and Copperhead Aaron Adams before Okotoks’ Phil Dillon converted a great feed from Lucas Mikkelsen to make it 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
The Bisons took control of the game in the middle frame when great board play from Jeremy Smith led to a goal from captain Chase Fallis on a one-timer from the slot. Dillon Loomer scored on a mad scramble in the Copperhead crease to make it 4-1, followed shortly by a terrific individual effort from Ty Fehr in which the slick winger beat Coaldale netminder Danny Wilk glove high on a terrific wrist shot. Bison defenceman Michael Savage added a late powerplay marker to put an exclamation point on a resounding 6-1 win for Okotoks in its playoff opener.
Savage said the Bisons knew they couldn’t give the Copperheads, a battle tested team coming off a three-game-series win over the High River Flyers, any chance to get in the game.
“I think we came out real hard, we were physical with them and not only that but we brought it to them,” Savage said. “I’m sure they have guys with bumps and bruises and that’s why we didn’t let them get into it.”
The second game of the series featured a much better effort from the visitors who found themselves down just 2-1 in the second intermission. Hannigan said Coaldale was a motivated team in Game 2.
“They were playing a lot of desperation hockey because they knew they needed this game,” he said.
Smith opened the scoring for Okotoks with Coaldale’s Chris Petty answering with a first period tally. Loomer made it 2-1 for Okotoks before a first-year Bison single-handedly took the game over in the final stanza. With injuries to forwards Anthony Guzzi, Colin MacMurdo and Jordan Felker, Bisons’ puck-moving defenceman Kevan Mikkelsen was asked to move up. The Chestermere native responded to the switch of position notching a third-period hat trick to put the game out of reach.
“We needed a forward and (Mikkelsen) stepped up and showed he can play both positions,” said Hannigan, who was impressed enough to say the 19-year-old could be kept at the position.
Mikkelsen, who’s no stranger to the scoresheet with 14 goals and 31 points amassed in the regular season, said he enjoyed the chance to line up at forward, a position he played in minor hockey.
“It’s good to have a better chance to put the puck in the net,” Mikkelsen quipped about playing forward. “It was just luck of the draw, I got set up by teammates and (everything) was just going right.”
Mikkelsen scored two on the man advantage, an area of emphasis for Okotoks in preparation for the series.
Coaldale head coach Reg Osmond said his players need to play with more discipline against a physical Bisons squad equipped with a dangerous powerplay.
“They play kind of the same style we do, but come playoff time you have to take some and turn your back,” Osmond said of the extra-curricular activity between the teams. “They’re a good club, a little quicker than us so defensively we’ve just got to play sound in our zone and keep ourselves out of the penalty box.”
Coming off a three-game series with the High River Flyers and a stretch of four games in five days, Osmond said the Copperheads are looking forward to the rest in between Games 2 and 3.
The Bisons and Copperheads renew their series Feb. 25 in Coaldale and hit the ice at the Henderson Arena in Lethbridge on Feb. 26 for Game 4.
Hannigan said winning the series on the road is going to be a tall order for Okotoks.
“The next one is pretty important and it will be a lot tougher in their rink, they have lots of fans,” Hannigan said. “It will be important to play through that.”
If necessary, the fifth game in the series would go Feb. 27 at Murray Arena in Okotoks at 8 p.m. For more information go to www.okotoksbisons.com.
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