It takes more than being a two-time league champion to win hockey games — one also has to play like a two-time league champion.
The Okotoks Bisons finally looked like the two-time defending Heritage Junior B Hockey League (HJHL) champions they are by knocking off two of the top teams last weekend.
The Bisons were led by Jordan Eddy’s hat-trick in their 4-1 victory over the Strathmore Wheatkings Friday night at the Murray Arena.
They then had their biggest victory of the season when Dillon Loomer had a hat trick to hand Medicine Hat its first regulation-time loss of the campaign Sunday afternoon by doubling the Cubs 6-3 in The Hat.
“It went really well for us this afternoon and the win Friday was big for us too,” Loomer said. “A lot of the guys came in this year thinking we would win everything. After those two losses (early in the season), we really had to think about how we were playing.”
Loomer admitted he was one of those Bisons who were taking things for granted.
“I think we were all guilty of that,” Loomer said with a laugh.
Loomer can rid himself of some of that guilt after picking up five points in the victory over the Cubs. The two teams were tied at one after the first period with Loomer picking up his first tally on a powerplay effort for Okotoks.
The Bisons put the game away in the second period when they scored four unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Loomer’s linemate Chase Fallis put the Bisons ahead 2-1 early in the second period. The third member of the Bisons’ top line, Jeremy Smith, gave Okotoks a 3-1 margin with his fourth goal of the season.
Hard-hitting Colton Griffith proved he can also put the puck in the net when he notched his first goal of the year to put the Bisons up by three.
Okotoks would go into the locker room with a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes when Loomer picked up his second powerplay marker of the game.
The Cubs would give the Bisons a scare by scoring two goals in the opening three minutes of the third period to close the gap to 5-3. However, Loomer would get his hat trick with his third powerplay effort of the game to make the final 6-3.
Okotoks goalie Tyler Hughes was rock solid in net turning away 34 of the 37 shots that came his way.
The Bisons started the weekend trying to show their loyal fans at the Murray Arena on Friday they weren’t the same team that turned in a lacklustre 5-2 loss to the Coaldale Copperheads just seven days before.
Okotoks did just that by beating the Strathmore Wheatkings 4-1 with the precision of a foothills farmer knocking down his last stand of wheat at harvest time.
Okotoks took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on a pair of goals from first-year Bison Jordan Eddy.
After Strathmore got within one with a goal in the opening five minutes of the second period,
Eddy made it 3-1 when he picked up a natural hat trick by rifling a shot past Wheatking goalie Richie Hubbell.
Eddy gave all the credit to his hard-working linemate Zach Baba and for his third goal.
“I might have had a natural hat trick when I was in Atom maybe,” Eddy said with a chuckle. “I was pretty excited. Zach did all the work on the third goal when he dug the puck out (from the corner).”
The Bisons closed out the scoring when Smith beat Hubbell with 12 minutes left in the game.
Hughes made some huge saves in the 4-1 victory.
“I had an alright game,” Hughes said. “I can still get better. I want to be a top-goalie in the league. Tonight we had one of our better games with the forwards coming back and the d-men were moving some men out in front of me.
“It made my life a lot easier.”
The Bisons were able to limit Strathmore’s Andre Bergmann, the league’s leading scorer, to just one assist.
“The Bisons know how to get under the top players’ skins,” said Wheatking assistant coach and former Bison captain Derek Schlamp. “What you got to do when you play a team like Okotoks is you got to shut everything out and battle through it… They shut down our top line and we have to have all four lines going. We can’t rely on just one line.”
The Bisons next host the Cochrane Generals at the Murray Arena Oct. 12 at 8 p.m.
