All good things must come to an end.
Unfortunately, for the Okotoks Jr. B Bisons their first home loss of the season came at the most inopportune time as the Cochrane Generals won the proverbial four-point game Friday to keep the Bisons out of first-spot in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s South Division.
“I just don’t think the boys were really prepared,” said Bisons alternate captain Connor Tudor. “We played that stretch of six games on our winning streak and played lower seeded teams and coming into that (Cochrane) game we were a little under-prepared.
“We came out a little flat and Cochrane came back.”
Connor Rendell added the game-winner for the visitors midway through the third period in the back-and-forth tilt. Robbie McLean, Kyle Becker and Zak Johns scored in a losing cause for the herd.
Okotoks boasted a perfect 10-0 record at Murray Arena and were winners of six in a row overall entering the South Division grudge match.
“It definitely stung a bit, but we knew we had to bounce back,” Tudor added. “We want to continue winning at home and dropping that one wasn’t what we wanted, but we know come playoff time we’re going to see them again.”
There was no time to dwell on the defeat as two more games in less than 48 hours was on the docket.
First, Okotoks made its first trip to Strathmore on a winning note by doubling up the Wheatland Kings by a 6-3 count on Saturday.
Michael Janz paced the visitors with a natural hat-trick in the second period. Johns and Darren Bordt added even strength markers and Luke Loomer tallied shorthanded.
Draven Rees made 30 saves for his ninth win of the campaign.
“They’re a big team, they’re physical and they spread the puck out well on that big ice,” Tudor said. “It will be a different game when they come here to play on the smaller ice.”
Returning to the smaller ice at Murray Arena for their weekend finale, Okotoks improved to 3-0 versus the High River Flyers in a decisive 10-1 triumph on Sunday.
Tudor and Aiden Geiger, while filling in on defence, each netted hat-tricks with McLean, Harrison Smith, Spencer Barlow and Black Diamond’s Tyler Whiteside also finding the back of the net. Defenceman Bryce Honish chipped in with five assists.
Netminder Matthew McDonald made 29 saves to pick up win number 11.
“We want to make sure we come out and get the first goal and have the momentum on our side,” Geiger said. “A team like that is going to rally, going to play physical and try to get anything they can.
“We got on their D right away, we put pucks deep and were hitting them hard. It started getting a little chippy, but we played through it.”
The Bisons have owned the Battle of the Foothills in 2015-16, winning the three meetings by a combined margin of 26-2.
Okotoks (21-7) sits one point back of Cochrane for first and just seven games remaining to gain ground.
“At this point we don’t have any more games against Cochrane,” Geiger said. “We’ve just got make sure that every game we pick up our two points, especially on nights where (Cochrane) slips up. We’ve got to make sure we’re getting those.”
The Bisons are back at the Murray for a pair of home dates this weekend.
Friday sees the Wheatland Kings make their first visit to Big Rock Country at 8 p.m. while the Coaldale Copperheads descend into the Foothills for a Sunday matinee at 1:15 p.m.
For more information on the Bisons go to okotoksbisons.com
