In a meeting of Junior B foes with tons of foothills hockey content on both sides, a newcomer to the South Division rivalry rose to the occasion.
First-year Okotoks Bison Brodie Eisbrenner broke the 3-3 deadlock with the High River Flyers 2:20 into the third period and the 20-year-old ' s third goal of the season held up as the game winner in the 4-3 victory for the hosts, Oct. 21 at Murray Arena.
“ Ty (Fehr) just really broke to the net and it really gave me more time to make my decision on the shot,” Eisbrenner said. “ It was nice for it to go in, it felt good.”
Eisbrenner, who spent the last two seasons in Junior A with the Lloydminster Bobcats and Saskatchewan ' s La Ronge Ice Wolves respectively, enjoyed his first taste of the Heritage Junior Hockey League ' s (HJHL) Okotoks and High River rivalry.
“ It ' s a little bit more physical than most games, it ' s intense and guys just get more ready for it,” Eisbrenner said. “ Being new to it, I definitely didn ' t know it was a big rivalry, now I know what to expect and I look forward to playing them again.”
The Calgary native got what most fans expect whenever the South Division foes face-off, an intense back-and-forth contest.
Dillon Loomer and Jeremy Smith staked the Bisons to an early 2-0 lead just 5:33 into the first period before the visitors clawed back thanks to their top line.
Flyers captain Tom Mikrut, a former member of the Bisons, and High River ' s leading scorer Alex Pronchuk each found the back of the net in the second half of the period to square the game 2-2 after 20 minutes.
Okotoks captain Chase Fallis put the Bisons in front midway through the middle frame after sliding a backhand shot on the powerplay past Flyers ' goalie Tyler Fornwald. Undeterred, the Flyers tied the game 3-3 just 54 seconds later when Pronchuk was given time and space in the slot to notch a beautiful backhand goal past Bisons ' netminder Tyler Hughes.
“ We had a slow start and the first few periods we weren ' t working as hard as we could have,” said Bisons alternate captain Zach Baba. “ We did realize in the third period it ' s going to take hard work to beat those guys and we needed to get the win.”
The Okotokian enforcer didn ' t need any reminders of the intensity of the matchup, but fuel was added to the fire after High River edged Okotoks 3-2 in the season opener for both clubs last month.
“ They thought they won the Stanley Cup after they beat us the first time,” Baba said. “ We think about that before every game we play against them and we want to prove to them that we can beat them.”
First-year Flyers forward Ryan Midtdal, an Okotokian and graduate of Holy Trinity Academy, said his team circles games versus Okotoks on the calendar too.
“ Some of the other guys like Tom (Mikrut) have played in Okotoks before and they ' ve been traded around a bit,” Midtdal said. “ So the rivalry is huge, we don ' t want the other team to win, we ' re friends and we go hard and it ' s competitive.”
Midtdal said both teams put in a good showing, a welcome change for the Flyers who are mired in a six-game losing streak.
“ I think it just came down to the little battles and it was a good game,” Midtdal said. “ The Bisons always put together a great, great team and I ' m happy with our performance because after the last two games we ' ve had this is a big turnaround.”
The Okotoks Minor Hockey product said it was a little disorienting to be playing on the visiting side in his hometown.
“ It ' s definitely a different feeling coming into an arena you ' re used to playing in on the home side,” Midtdal said. “ Most of those boys on the (Bisons) I know and played with for all my (minor) hockey career.”
The triumph over High River capped off a perfect weekend for the Bisons, as the HJHL team posted a 3-0 record to improve to 8-2 on the season.
Okotoks levied the Mountainview Colts an 8-0 thrashing at the Murray Arena on Oct. 19 and handed the first-place Coaldale Copperheads their first loss of the season with a 5-3 victory on the road the following night.
“ The boys were really up for that game,” Baba said of the Coaldale tilt. “ After we beat them we realized we can beat anyone in this league.”
The Bisons will look to extend their current seven game winning streak on Friday when they travel to Airdrie for their first meeting of the season with the Thunder. Okotoks then hosts the Medicine Hat Cubs on Oct. 28 at Murray Arena for a 1:15 p.m. puck drop.
For more information go to www.okotoksbisons.com.
