Riding high onto the ice led the Okotoks Jr. B Bisons to a season low.
Okotoks suffered its first loss of the decade to the upstart Ponoka Stampeders as its comeback fell short in a 7-4 result in Heritage Junior Hockey League action Friday night at Murray Arena.
“This one we’ve got to throw behind us right away. It’s embarrassing,” said Bisons alternate captain Connor Tudor. “We came in with our heads a little in the clouds from last weekend. We played two great games last weekend. We came in a little too high and we need to be more even keel.
“It’s the HJ and any team can win. It’s a good league.”
Once pushovers in the Heritage, the Stampeders have shown themselves to be a competitive team in 2016-17 with wins on back-to-back weekends over the Coaldale Copperheads and now the Bisons.
The Stamps came out flying against an undermanned Okotoks team missing four of its top nine scorers to injury or suspension. An even strength marker from Toran Corbier and powerplay tally from Taite Opdendries gave the visitors a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
Ponoka would double the lead in the middle frame through Corbier and Jordan Sears.
Wanting to take the game to the alley and let out some frustrations, Okotoks seemed to turn the tide late in the frame after a pair of donnybrooks went in their favour.
Six-foot-three Ryan McLean traded blows in a marathon scrap with Justin McKenzie with the latter hanging in there despite the 85-pound difference between the combatants.
Okotoks rookie Kyle Dunville then dropped Ponoka’s James Jansen.
The Bisons finally got on the board early in the final stanza as centre Nicholas Murrell found the back of the net in his first home game of the season.
“It brought life to the bench and got the guys going a bit,” Murrell said. “We kept pushing. It didn’t really matter the time.”
Stampeders leading scorer Nate Higgins would restore the four-goal advantage minutes later, but the home team wasn’t quite willing to throw in the towel.
Taylor McNeill scored on a backdoor feed followed in short order by powerplay markers from Spencer Bender and Tudor to make it a one-goal game in the final three minutes.
The Stamps would halt the late surge with an empty-netter through Dakota Sullivan and Higgins added another for good measure with 30 seconds on the clock.
“We had a rough two first periods and in the third came back with four goals, but it’s not enough,” Tudor said. “Our offence is fine. We’ve got to crack down defensively, that’s our main area of concern.”
On an otherwise bleak evening Murrell’s two-point showing offers up a sliver of optimism. The 1997 born skater looks to be a welcome addition to the forward ranks.
“He’s an offensive guy, he scores goals and puts the puck on your tape right where you want it,” Tudor said. “He did really well in our conditioning camp and training camp and we knew he was worth keeping around and it showed tonight.”
The debut was a long time coming.
Following an impressive pre-season performance, the forward broke his wrist in exhibition play and was sidelined for the first 15 games of the regular season.
“It’s not too great to be watching your own team, but it happens and you try to bounce back as best as you can,” Murrell said. “It was good to be back on the ice. I love being with the boys.”
The boys put the memories of the Stampeders loss behind them with a terrific bounce back effort the following night on the road.
Led by a hat-trick from Tyler Rohl the Bisons trounced the Three Hills Thrashers 10-3 on Saturday. Bender added a pair while Tudor and Kyle Becker registered four point evenings.
The Bisons return home for a divisional battle with the Strathmore Wheatland Kings on Nov. 25 followed by a road dates in Cochrane and Medicine Hat on a busy three game weekend.
For more information on the club go to okotoksbisons.com
