Ten minutes from their season ending the Okotoks Bisons changed their course in a flash.
Ten minutes from their season ending the Okotoks Bisons changed their course in a flash.
Facing the prospects of elimination in the South final, Kyle Harrison and Nicholas Murrell scored four minutes apart late in regulation as the Bisons charged back for a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Coaldale Copperheads in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Monday night at the Murray Arena.
"We noticed they were getting a little bit tired, you could see they were slowing down a little bit," said Bisons head coach Chris Beston. "They're on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster right now. We kept sticking to our game plan. I thought we outplayed them in Game 3 as well.
"Puck bounces weren't going our way, but our puck luck started to change here in the third period."
Riding steady goaltending from Nolan Berner and a quick-strike, opportunistic offence the visitors were in control with a 2-0 lead late in the middle stanza on goals from Tyler Anderson and Chase Williamson.
Okotoks got on the board with 3:20 left in the period as affiliate Hunter Maximnuk continued his terrific playoff run with a key powerplay marker to put the Snakes in striking distance.
"Even in that first and second we knew it was coming," Harrison said. "Pucks bouncing around him in the net, he was getting a little lucky here and there with a few posts. We knew if we executed our game plan pucks would eventually find their way in."
Harrison would even the score at 4-on-4, taking a feed from linemate Tyler Bordt with just over seven minutes left in regulation.
"Whether I scored it or anyone else on the team that was huge for us," Harrison said. "We knew as soon as we got one the floodgates would open."
Indeed they would.
On the next shift, Maximnuk nearly had his second of the night, ringing one off the post. Two shifts later the relentless Bisons pursuit paid off as Maximnuk found a wide-open Murrell on the backdoor for a tap-in game-winner.
"That (tying) goal sparked us and we took over," Murrell said. "We knew it was do-or-die, had to battle hard, dig down deep and we did. Now we go to the Snake Pit and hopefully take over from there."
Berner was the story in Game 3, stopping 30 of 31 shots in the 3-1 Copperheads victory Saturday night in the Snake Pit. Ryan McLean broke the shutout bid with all of two seconds left in regulation after Mitchell Konschuk, Brandyn Howg and Brandon Langridge tallied for the hosts.
Undisciplined play cost the Bisons in Friday's Game 2.
Okotoks was levied 89 minutes in penalties and couldn't crawl out of an early deficit to fall by a 6-1 score on home ice.
Sam Paskuski paced the winners with a two-goal, three point effort while Bordt's first period tally was all the herd could muster at the Murray.
The Snakes drew first blood in the series by scoring five unanswered after Harrison had staked the visitors to a 2-0 lead to dispatch the Bisons 5-2 on March 7 in Coaldale.
Game 5 is back in the Snake Pit on March 14.
Okotoks is looking to return the favour from last post-season in which the script was flipped and Coaldale fought off a 3-0 deficit to reverse sweep the series.
"We are down 3-1 in the series, but we still believe we have a chance to win this," Harrison said. "A few of us older guys look back to what happened last year when we were up three games and they end up beating us the next four.
"Anything can happen in this league and we're just hoping for some more wins here."
If necessary, Game 6 would be back in Okotoks on March 16 at 8 p.m. If the series goes the distance, Game 7 is March 17 in Coaldale.
For more information go to okotoksbisons.com
