Oddsmakers would be wise to steer clear of the Heritage Junior Hockey League.
Searches for rhyme, reason and predictability come up scarce in the increasingly parity ridden Heritage Junior Hockey League Southern Division where the Okotoks Junior B Bisons are clinging to the top seed with a string of contenders on their tail.
“Ourselves, anybody can win on any given day,” said Okotoks Bisons head coach Chris Beston earlier this month. “The South is a tough division this year.”
In particular, there continues to be little to nothing in between the two combatants in the Battle of the Foothills.
In the second meeting in four days between the clubs the outcome was the same only the victor switched.
The Bisons got a measure of revenge in dispatching the Flyers 5-4 in a shootout Thursday at the Murray Arena. The three matchups this season have all been determined by one goal with two of them going all the way to the shootout.
Robbie McLean and Nicholas Murrell scored in the four-round shootout to pick up the extra point.
Tyler Rohl and Jason Horn registered one-goal, two-point efforts while Murrell and rookie forward Jharin Bantugan also found the back of the net. High River’s dynamic duo of Davis Sheldon and Evan Pakkala each poured in four-point nights.
Two nights earlier the Bisons came away from Strathmore empty-handed from a rare Tuesday night tilt.
The Wheatland Kings scored three times in the first-period to outlast the Bisons 6-4 at the Strathmore Family Centre. Okotoks captain Josh McCulloch paced the visitors with a two-goal effort while Horn and Becker also found the back of the net.
Following a five games in seven days stretch the Bisons (10-5-1) own a two-point lead atop the South with both the Flyers and Wheatland Kings scratching at their heels just two points back.
Just five points separate first from fifth in the division while the last-place Medicine Hat Cubs have 12 points with games in hand on nearly every squad in the South.
Like snow on a residential street, the logjam in the division doesn’t look to be getting cleared anytime soon.
Okotoks gets back to work with a trip to the Snake Pit on Nov. 18 to battle the Coaldale Copperheads followed by a Nov. 19 out of division clash with the visiting Ponoka Stampeders on Nov. 19. Puck-drop is 1:15 p.m. at the Murray Arena.
For more information go to okotoksbisons.com
