A match-up with a South Division heavyweight was enough to ignite a slumbering Okotoks Bison squad out of his early season doldrums.
Okotoks sniper Phil Dillon broke out in time for a dominant two goals and three-point performance versus the Cochrane Generals, propelling the Bisons to a 6-2 win Oct. 12 in Okotoks.
“Other than tonight I thought it’s been really slow,” Dillon said of his 2012-13 season on the heels of last year’s 27-goal and 54-point campaign. “Last year I thought I had a pretty good year and here I had three points coming into the game and didn’t have any in the last three.
“It was good to get a couple tonight and get that off my chest.”
The Generals gave the Bisons an early scare as Tyler House scored on the visitors’ first shot of the game just 69 seconds in to beat Okotoks goalie Alex Bilton.
Dillon would answer back with a shorthanded goal which was equal parts fortune and skill.
“I just blocked a shot and tried to flip it over him and fanned on it and got a breakaway and put it over his glove,” Dillon said of his first goal of the game. “Then the powerplay goal (in the second period) I think it hit a shin pad and hit the far post and trickled in. I got a lucky bounce.”
Dillon attributed his breakout performance to cohesion.
“I think we’ve finally got some chemistry with the line,” said Dillon, who was centred by Brodie Eisbrenner and flanked by long-time linemate Ty Fehr. “The last few games we couldn’t get anything going and we’ve been mixing up lines.”
The Dillon and Fehr pair has seen its share of centres rotated to play with the offensive dynamos and they are hoping Eisbrenner, a first-year Bison, will be a fixture on their unit.
“With me and Ty we usually know where each other is on the ice and with Brodie we didn’t know where he would be,” Dillon said. “Now we’ve just gotten used to where he is on the ice and we can find him easier.”
Dillon finished with two goals and three points as did forward Jordan Eddy while Eisbrenner and Kevan Mikkelsen each notched goals and Zach Baba added two helpers.
The Generals narrowed the deficit to 4-2 when Daniel Bunnah beat Bilton with 3:36 left in the second period. Mikkelsen’s insurance marker on a wicked slapshot from the point on the powerplay put the game further out of the Generals’ reach at 5-2 with 14 minutes left and signaled a point in which the visitors’ frustrations got the best of them.
Cochrane head coach Ken Soloski said the Generals let the game get away from in the final frame.
“In the third period we resorted to lack of discipline and it resulted in a loss,” Soloski said “I think it was frustration from getting down another goal and seeing how far we had to come back.”
The meeting between the clubs was the first since the Bisons completed the four-game sweep of the Generals in Cochrane in March en route to the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) title.
Soloski conceded there might have been a carry over effect for the returning Cochrane players.
“There’s something psychological about it, it’s in the back of our heads for sure, especially the guys who were here last year,” said Soloski, an assistant coach last season with the Generals. “We need to get over that.”
Veteran Bisons defenceman Dylan Griep said games versus the Generals are always circled on the calendar.
“We know every time we play Cochrane they’re one of the better teams in the league and we have to show up for 60 minutes,” Griep said. “The key tonight was getting it deep and using our speed because we have a fast team and a lot of skill.”
The Okotoks native said it’s premature to count the Generals (1-4-2), winners of two of the last five league titles, off the list of championship contenders.
“They lost some of their old offensive guys, but it looks like they will shape up and be good,” Griep said. “We can’t take them lightly.”
The Bisons parlayed the momentum from Friday into a 6-3 triumph on the road over the Stettler Lighning on Saturday. Eddy added two more goals to give him a league best 10 tallies on the season while Jeremy Smith potted two goals and four points and his linemates Chase Fallis and Dillon Loomer each pitched in with a goal and an assist.
Okotoks (5-2) is back at the Murray Arena on Friday when they tango with the Mountainview Colts at 8 p.m. The Bisons are in Coaldale to face off with the first place Copperheads on Saturday and return to the Okotoks Recreation Centre to meet the High River Flyers for a 1:15 p.m. puck-drop on Sunday.
For more information on the Bisons go to www.okotoksbisons.com.
