As the calendar turns, the beat goes on for the Carstar Okotoks Bisons.
Okotoks (23-3-1) extended its winning streak to 11 games and points streak to 14 straight in the Heritage Junior Hockey League with a 6-2 triumph over the Three Hills Thrashers Saturday night at the Murray Arena.
“We did sneak in a couple of practices around the 27th and 28th and we’re a different club this year,” said Bisons head coach Brad Cobb.
“They came in pretty focused, there’s some rust for sure, we had 14-15 days off without playing, but they battled through it and we got two wins in there and hopefully have the rust off for next weekend.”
The Bisons opened the month with a 5-2 triumph in High River on Jan. 2 for their fourth win in as many games this season versus the Flyers.
Captain Jake Snashall, Sam Callahan, Seamus Garagan, Easton Dean and Ty Russell filled the net for the visitors backstopped by Connor White’s 22-save performance.
On Saturday, Okotoks scored a 6-2 result over the Three Hills Thrashers.
Despite a heavy edge on the shotclock, the visitors were within one for parts of the final frame. Okotoks then put the result to bed with goals on three straight shifts from Russell, Nikita Syerov and McCallum Bakken. Dean, Adam Kirkpatrick and Caden Scott had the other tallies for the herd.
Three Hills goalie Shane Ford, a rookie from Okotoks, made 57 saves in the loss while White secured his 14th win with a 21-save effort.
“It was just sticking to it, we were outshooting the opponent there and the shot selection wasn’t great early on,” Cobb said. “I think at the end of the day we tired them out, we played a lot of hockey in that end of the ice and a lot of rubber at that goaltender.”
This week, Okotoks is home to the Red Deer Vipers on Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. and make the short drive to Strathmore on Saturday for a divisional clash with the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings.
Okotoks hasn’t lost on home ice since the opening weekend in September. The Bisons will look to keep that run going with a home heavy slate to close the 2024-25 campaign with eight of 11 contests at the Murray Arena.
“We like playing in front of our fans,” the coach added. “And we hate losing more than we like winning sometimes and that’s a good recipe to have, you especially don’t want to lose at home and I think that has a lot to do with our (success) here.”
For more information, go to okotoksbisons.com.
