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Bisons look to wrangle Sylvan Lake in HJHL final

Hockey: Okotoks opens best-of-five at home on March 23

A meeting of the most storied franchises in Heritage history will decide its championship. 

The Okotoks Carstar Bisons and Sylvan Lake Wranglers will go toe-to-toe in the Heritage Junior Hockey League best-of-five championship series starting on March 23 as the top seeds in their respective divisions look to add another banner to the rafters. 

“I think it’s going to be really exciting hockey,” said Bisons head coach Brad Cobb. “They play the game very similar to us structure-wise, they like to play fast with a lot of puck movement, they’ve got some good goaltending as well. 

“We match up really well against them.” 

The teams have not met in the playoffs since the 2014 campaign. Both organizations are blessed with considerable pedigree with Bisons owning 12 HJHL titles and the Wranglers boasting five. 

Both finalists are through to the Hockey Alberta Jr. B Provincial Championships in Okotoks, with the Bisons as the host team and the other HJHL slot granted to whoever made the final versus the Bisons. 

“I don’t know if that affects it for us so much,” Cobb said. “Our main goal was to win the league and win provincials. Our focus is the same, we want to win every game we can. 

“I guess it comes down to your mindset at the beginning of the year. I can’t speak for (the Wranglers), but I know ours is to win it.” 

Sylvan Lake eliminated the Airdrie Thunder in six games in a seesaw Northern Division final and dispatched the Rocky Rams in six games in the second round. 

Okotoks, the defending HJHL champions, got through the Southern Division final over the Medicine Hat Cubs in the minimum of four games last week. 

Scott Brown, Jaevon Buschlen and Alaister Standen scored third-period goals as Okotoks erased a 2-0 deficit and edged the Cubs 3-2 in the decisive Game 4 on the road on March 14. 

Cobb said momentum can carry over from series to series, but the 10-day layoff is a mitigating factor. 

“Ideally you would like a little bit of a rest and get right back at it,” Cobb said. “But this group has been laser-focused on what their goals and accomplishments are.  

“It will be a new series and we’ll create our own new momentum fairly quickly in Game 1.” 

Okotoks is 8-0 in the postseason and is on a 13-game winning streak, dating back to the regular season. 

“It’s the focus and the commitment of the group,” Cobb said. “They ultimately want to be the best team in the province and they want to not only do it by winning hockey games, but they want to do it by controlling their own destiny. 

“The only way to do that is to stay focused and win every game.” 

For more information, go to okotoksbisons.com. 

HJHL finals schedule 

Game 1: March 23, 8 p.m. Sylvan Lake at Okotoks 

Game 2: March 25, 8 p.m. Okotoks at Sylvan Lake 

Game 3: March 26, 5 p.m. Sylvan Lake at Okotoks  

Game 4: March 29, 8 p.m. Okotoks at Sylvan Lake 

Game 5: April 1, 7:45 p.m. Sylvan Lake at Okotoks 


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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