Thanks to a great finish the Okotoks Bisons are off to the right start.
Okotoks staved off a comeback bid and scored three unanswered in the final 12 minutes to thump the Mountain View Colts 5-2 in the Heritage Junior Hockey League opener, Saturday night in Didsbury.
“The first two periods were really sloppy, we got outworked, outplayed,” said Bisons head coach Chris Beston. “Third period we just really found a way to win is what it came down to.
“That’s what you want to do, we haven’t had a lot of time to practice yet or gel as a team. I’m happy with the two points.”
With nine players marking their Bisons debut on the heels of a shortened exhibition season, the team was a little off coming out of the blocks in the opening frame against one of the HJHL’s powers in the Northern Division.
Second year forward Jason Horn broke the duck at the 12:16 mark of the second period, taking a tip pass from Dallas Otto and scoring on a backhand deke to finish off the partial breakaway.
“It was pretty lucky there to have no defencemen between me and the goalie,” Horn said. “I was deking on my forehand then backhand and tried to go bar down, didn’t work, but still went in.
“We really needed that goal.”
Okotokian Devyn Stewart marked his Bisons debut with an insurance marker on the powerplay two minutes into the third period.
Special teams then turned the other way on the visitors.
Mountain View struck twice on the man advantage in a 1:48 span to even the score at 2-2 on powerplay tallies through Caden Switzer and Quintin Thorburn.
Undaunted, the momentum spun right back around to the herd.
On the next shift, centre Austin O’Bray made good on ample time and space in front of net to lift a backhander over Colts netminder Ethan Woodward.
“The guys didn’t get down which was nice to see,” Beston added. “And we just battled right back, held our heads high and kept moving forward which is a great thing to see this early in the year.”
After killing over a minute of 5-on-3 opportunity for the Colts, the Bisons doubled the lead on a touch of precision.
Defenceman Bryan Weber threaded the needle for a sublime stretch pass to Tyler Bordt. The fleet-footed Okotokian went in on the breakaway and let off a half slapper to fool Woodward.
“We came in (the dressing room) and regrouped a little bit and went back out and kept it simple,” said Bordt. “Instead of trying to dangle we got the puck back to the D, put everything on net, crashed the net.”
Jagger Thiessen, another Okotoks minor hockey product playing his first game with the herd, completed the scoreline with the empty-net tally with 71 seconds left in regulation.
Devin Reagan made 28 saves as Okotoks soundly out-shot the Colts by a 42-30 margin.
“We just kept working hard and team effort,” Horn said. “They got a little bit tired in the third period and that’s when we came out a little bit more than them.
“It’s very important to start the season with two points.”
They went on to start the season with four points in dominant fashion.
Okotoks trounced the Stampeders 10-0 on Sunday afternoon in Ponoka.
Bordt, O’Bray and Nicholas Murrell scored twice while Horn, Harrison, Thiessen and Okotoks rookie Braeden Germain also found the back of the net.
Reagan made 22 saves for the shutout.
Okotoks gets on home ice for the first time on Sept. 21 in the front end of a home-and-home series with the Strathmore Wheatland Kings. Puck-drop is 8 p.m. at the Murray Arena. The Bisons round out the weekend on Sept. 22 in Strathmore.
For more information go to okotoksbisons.com
