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Bisons earn playoff bye

A miraculous move up the standings just wasn’t in the cards.
Bryce Honish and the Okotoks Bisons wrapped up the regular season with an 8-4 win over Strathmore on Feb. 7 at Murray Arena.
Bryce Honish and the Okotoks Bisons wrapped up the regular season with an 8-4 win over Strathmore on Feb. 7 at Murray Arena.

A miraculous move up the standings just wasn’t in the cards.

The Okotoks Bisons’ outside chance of earning the top seed in the South Division went awry when the Cochrane Generals took care of business and kept Okotoks in second spot in a dramatic final weekend of the regular season in the Heritage Junior Hockey League.

“We’ve just go to play it how it is,” said Bisons captain Darren Bordt. “We thought we would end up first and it didn’t happen. We’re going to go out there and give it all we’ve got anyway.”

Trailing the Generals by four points entering the final weekend of the regular season, the Bisons were up against it and found out their fate on Friday night.Cochrane’s 7-2 trouncing over the Coaldale Copperheads clinched them first in the division and league with Okotoks assured of its second-place showing.

With nothing to play for in its season finale, the Bisons lowered the curtain on the 2015-16 regular season impressively by doubling up the Strathmore Wheatkings 8-4 on home-ice.

“We just wanted to keep our feet rolling to be able to end this season and start next season on a high note,” said Bisons forward Robbie McLean. “We were able to do that if we could clean up our penalties. I thought we stuck together as a unit pretty well. If guys would do something stupid, we would come in.”

Okotoks scored three in the first period to take a firm grasp on the divisional affair as Caleb Eefting, Keifer Schaufler and Spencer Bender found the back of the net.

Aidan Geiger and Zak Johns added second-period markers, the latter with 1.2 seconds left in the frame. McLean and former Bison Brooker Pretty Youngman punctuated the period with a spirited heavyweight tilt between the ex-teammates. Geiger scored a pair in the final stanza to complete the hat-trick.

“The motivation was bringing a win into playoffs. We still worked our systems and treated it like a playoff game,” Bordt said. “In the third we tried our blueline T and everyone was doing it right, rookies were paying attention.”

Okotoks opened the weekend in a 10-3 rout over the Banff Academy Bears at the Murray Arena. Overage centre Spencer Barlow and rookie pivot Tyler Rohl each potted hat-trick performances in the runaway victory.

“The offence we always have, but the defence we need and it has been good,” Bordt said. “We’ve been trying to keep our defence back and shutting down the fast forwards on Banff and Strathmore.

“It’s good to see us doing that because there are faster teams out there.”

The first-round best-of-three playoff series in the South will feature the Copperheads against the sixth-seed High River Flyers with Banff and Strathmore locking horns in the four-versus-five match-up.

In the North, the provincial host Red Deer Vipers square off against the Ponoka Stampeders while the Blackfalds Wranglers face-off against the Three Hills Thrashers. The top-two seeds, Mountainview and Airdrie earned byes to round two.

Okotoks’ second-round series against its yet-to-be-determined opponent is expected to start on approximately Feb. 16.

Now it’s up to them to avoid the rust factor against a more battle-hardened opponent coming out of round-one.

“We’ve got to stay out of the bars,” McLean said with a smile. “And just gel as a group, maybe go to a team movie or something and become closer.”

As for who’s next on the docket, the Bisons are gearing up for a meeting with the southeast Snakes in what would be a rematch with the Copperheads from last year’s South final.

“It’s going to be Coaldale,” Bordt said. “And we’re going to be ready.”

For more information on the Bisons go to okotoksbisons.com


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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