The Bisons are one win away from a trip to the division final.
Adam Kirkpatrick scored on the rush at 8:33 of overtime as the Carstar Okotoks Bisons fought off a three-goal surge from the Cannex Cochrane Generals to take Game 2 of the HJHL South Semifinal series 4-3 Sunday at the Spray Lakes Sawmills Centre.
“It didn’t faze us, a lot of teams that can really rattle you and you can get down,” said Bisons head coach Brad Cobb. “We had no doubt in our mind that we were going to win the hockey game.”
For the second straight game to start the best-of-five series, Okotoks surged to a resounding lead with Cochrane chipping away in the latter stages of the contest.
On Sunday, Jakob Semeniuk scored twice with Seamus Garagan notching his second goal of the series to give the visitors a 3-0 edge midway into the middle frame.
“Our four lines have been contributing in a positive way,” Cobb said. “You’re getting some scoring out of the Jakob Semeniuk, Ty Russell and Joel Burrows line, they’ve been really good the last few games.
“That really helps set the stage for the (Sam) Callahans and those guys on the top two lines.”
Cochrane’s Jayden Barney and Evan Malcolm trimmed the advantage to one with the Generals then scoring the equalizer with an extra-attacker in the late stages through Brendan Thubron.
Bisons rookie goalie Connor White made 28 saves for his second win in as many starts.
“He’s answered the bell really well for us too,” Cobb said. “In Game 1, he went about 13, 14 minutes there without seeing a shot, that will be tough on a young goaltender in his first playoff game. He’s done really well and is maturing as the series has gone along.”
Okotoks took Game 1 of the set 3-2 on Friday with Kirkpatrick, Garagan and McCallum Bakken scoring first period goals and the visitors cutting the deficit to one through the final 40 minutes.
“It’s been good challenges early on in the playoffs for us with us getting some leads and them shifting back into it and making us stay the script, stay the course on what we’re trying to accomplish,” the coach added.
“We’re sticking to it. When some adversity comes, or something negative, they get a lucky bounce here or there, we’re fighting through it rather than getting caught up in the bad plays, bad mistakes or bad bounces.”
Okotoks has a chance to wrap up the series on home ice when the puck drops on Game 3 on Friday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.
“You’ve got an opportunity to sweep ‘em and you don’t want to give them any life,” said Cobb. “I always use the analogy that when you’ve got your hands on their neck and you want to keep squeezing an finish it off.
“Our goal is to continue to play like we’re playing and if we play like we have, we’ll be finished Friday night.”
In the other South Semifinal, the third seed Medicine Hat Cubs have earned a 2-0 lead over the second seed Agra Risk Wheatland Kings.
The North Division series have followed the same script with the top seed Sylvan Lake Wranglers up 2-0 on the Airdrie Thunder. The Red Deer Vipers have a 1-0 edge on the Mountainview Colts in the two-versus-three matchup.
For more information, go to okotoksbisons.com.
Series schedule
Game 1: Feb. 21, 8 p.m. Generals at Bisons. Okotoks wins 3-2.
Game 2: Feb. 23, 3 p.m. Bisons at Generals. Okotoks wins 4-3 (OT)
Game 3: Feb. 28, 8 p.m. Generals at Bisons
Game 4: March 1, 8:15 p.m. Bisons at Generals
