Identifying an issue is always easier than eliminating it.
Discipline continues to dog the Okotoks Jr. B Bisons against the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s upper echelon teams and it cost them again on Sunday in a 4-2 loss to the defending champion Red Deer Vipers at the Murray Arena.
“It’s not concerning, we just have to buckle down on penalties. That’s the biggest thing and our coaches are pretty firm about that,” said Bisons captain Josh McCulloch. “We’ve got a few guys that we have to get it into their heads to not be dumb.
“You want to get away from the selfish penalties. If you’re working hard in the corner and take a penalty, that’s hockey, it happens.”
The Vipers scored two powerplay markers in a 2:08 span in the second period to break the game wide-open.
Okotoks chipped away on McCulloch’s team-leading sixth goal of the season after strong work by Robbie McLean and Jharin Bantugan to kill off the end of a penalty.
The latter added a powerplay marker with 67 ticks left in regulation to pick up his first career goal in the HJHL.
Vipers netminder Branden Bilodeau stopped 36 of 38 shots, including a staggering behind-the-back save on a wild deflection off the boards, over the net and onto the back of his jersey.
“It’s one of those days,” McCulloch said. “Goalies do get in players’ heads, you’ve got to overcome that, keep bearing down and do your best.”
Special teams has been an Okotoks sore spot through the first three weeks.
The Bisons rank ninth on the powerplay and have given up six goals on the man-advantage to own the seventh-ranked penalty kill unit in the 13-team league.
“Penalties, penalties, you can’t win on a PK,” said Bisons forward Tyler Whiteside. “Five-on-five I felt like we dominated them. If we played the whole game five-on-five I feel like we would have won. What can you do other than learn from this and carry on next weekend.”
Whiteside returned to the lineup on the weekend for the first time since midway through the 2016-17 campaign. The Black Diamond native lost part of his right index finger in an off-ice accident and later sustained a broken heel over the summer.
“That was two and a half months without any weight on (the heel),” he said. “I’ve been three weeks at practice, first two weeks I was pushing pucks trying to get some movement back in my foot. Last week was my first full week in full gear, full practice.
“It feels really good to be back out with the boys and help them carry the team along.”
Okotoks showed what it could do on its night on Friday in taking it to the Mountainview Colts by a 4-1 count. Nicholas Murrell paced the offence with a two-goal effort while defenceman Brad Whitehead and forward Tyler Rohl added the other tallies.
Devin Reagan made 22 saves to improve to a perfect 3-0 on the season.
“We played together as a team, we were out of the box,” McCulloch said. “Everyone contributed really well and that’s what we need to do all year.”
The Bisons (3-2) look to get back on track in a rematch with the Vipers on Oct. 14 in Red Deer. The herd closes out the weekend back at the Murray Arena on Oct. 15 versus the Airdrie Thunder at 1:15 p.m.
“We’re leaning towards the right way and once we figure that out we’re going to be fine,” McCulloch said. “We’ve got to improve our PK which is not the best right now. We’re chipping away game by game and can’t think in the long run right now.”
