It’s tough to withstand an attack from all angles.
Joel Deeprose scored twice from the back-end, Austin O’Bray had three points in his return to the team and hometown rookie Hayden Hale chipped in with two assists in his debut as the Okotoks Bisons dispatched the High River Flyers 6-1 in the HJHL season opener Friday night at the Murray Arena.
“Our first period we came out flat. I think everyone gets a little bit hyped up with the rivalry and the home opener,” said Bisons head coach Chris Beston. “Second period we settled in, finally got back to our gameplan and dominated the way we should.”
Some offence from the defence got Okotoks through in the early going.
Deeprose, a smooth-skating 1999-born blueliner, opened the scoring in the final minute of the first period while shorthanded.
He made it a two-goal lead just over a minute into the middle frame on a helper from forward Josh Niwa. The latter got his first goal with the Bisons just over two minutes later with Hale earning the assist.
Hale added another helper as O’Bray added a powerplay goal with High River countering late in the period through Jakob Jefferies to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes.
“I thought he played fantastic,” Beston said of Hale. “He just played his game, kept it simple and never got in trouble. He’s a great asset to our team, he will be the only rookie this year.”
Hale, who can play both positions, said he’s excited to start off his junior career as a defenceman.
“It was cool, the beat was up-tempo and a lot more physicality,” said Hale, a member of the Okotoks Midget AA Oilers the past three seasons. “It was fun to raise my compete level.”
Contributing on the scoresheet from the get-go is a thrill in its own right.
“I want to do it for the boys,” Hale said. “They’re a great group of guys and I’m just glad I could help out.
“Those guys on the other side, they competed hard, but we out-skilled them and outworked them.”
As the score got more lopsided the bad blood boiled over in the contest.
Okotoks forward Connor Taylor, a former Flyer, took a vicious cross-check from Brennan McPherson early in the third period leading to a donnybrook.
New Bisons forward Brennan Schwark endeared himself to his teammates, stepping to the defence of Taylor and dropping the mitts with McPherson for a spirited heavyweight tilt at centre-ice.
“We kind of preach that, protect your teammates, protect yourselves,” Beston said. “It was nice to see Brennan step up when Taylor got cheap-shot. He was smart about it. He didn’t take the extra penalty.
“Smart toughness is what we’re looking for this year.”
Okotoks closed the game out with Luc Thorimbert scoring while a skirmish broke out between Niwa and High River’s Dante Hubick.
Evan Woods wrapped up the scoring with a deflection on a point shot from defenceman Mitch Wolfe with just over eight minutes on the clock.
Adding to the already combustible rivalry was a late pre-season move.
Tyler Alger, the Flyers’ leading scorer last season, joined Okotoks earlier in the week and had the pleasure of skating against his former teammates right out of the gate.
“It was a rough game, I didn’t expect it to be as rough as it was,” Alger said. “There’s always some bad blood with these two teams and I think it just got a little bit worse.
“It’s going to be an interesting season series.”
Alger called the decision to join the Bisons something that’s been brewing for some time.
“Eventually I just had to make a decision on myself and what’s best for me and not necessarily the people around me,” Alger said. “I just decided Okotoks is a better fit for me as a person and as a player to develop.
“Being a little bit of a better team with the skill, their systems are really good. It’s a really good program, they’re really serious and really make you feel like you’re here to get work done.”
Alger, a 1999-born winger, spent parts of his first junior season with the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons and Calgary Mustangs before starring for the Flyers in 2018-19.
He’s another weapon on what’s become a loaded Bisons forward group.
“He just adds more depth to our top-end scoring. He’s a very talented player, he can do wonders in this league, especially playing with a (Tyler) Witzke or (Ryan) Bedard, the skies the limit for that kid," Beston said.
Okotoks closes the opening weekend with a trip to Strathmore on Sept. 21.
For more information go to okotoksbisons.com
