Home ice advantage is in the Bisons locker for a fourth straight postseason.
The Carstar Okotoks Bisons (34-3-1) wrapped up the regular season with the top record in the Heritage Junior Hockey League for a fourth consecutive campaign, ending the season on a 10-game point streak.
The Bisons clinched first with a 4-2 win over Cochrane on Feb. 16 in its penultimate match.
Brayden Kapty, Kegan Law, Scott Brown and Nolan Smith provided the offence with Logan Maroni making 27 saves for his third win in as many starts.
In the finale in Three Hills, Okotoks was upended 4-3 in overtime, halting a nine-game winning streak. Lucas Watkins, Caden Scott and Adam Kirkpatrick scored for the visitors who were up against a 49 save effort from Three Hills netminder Jacob Aellen.
Okotoks, two-time defending HJHL champions, ran the table at the Murray Arena with a 19-0 mark on home ice, with its four defeats coming on the road.
Team defence was at the forefront all season for the herd.
Okotoks had the best penalty kill in the league by a country mile, finishing seventh in power play efficiency, with the best goals against numbers in the Jr. B loop.
Netminder Grady Nicholas was tops in the league with 28 wins, five shutouts, a 1.75 goals against average and .924 save percentage.
The Bisons did not have a scorer in the HJHL’s top-10 point producers, instead boasting more of a balanced attack with nine players above the 20-point plateau.
Watkins led the league’s blueline ranks with 13 goals from the back-end.
The HJHL playoff picture will see Cochrane clash with the High River Flyers in the fourth-versus-fifth play-in round.
The Flyers punched their ticket to the playoffs on Friday with a 3-2 overtime win over the Medicine Hat Cubs with McCallum Bakken netting the game-winner. The win eliminated the Strathmore Wheatland Kings from postseason contention.
Okotoks will play the winner of that round with the other second round series pitting Medicine Hat and Coaldale.
In the North, the play-in round will feature Three Hills and Airdrie. The winner then plays Sylvan Lake. The two-versus-three seed matchup features the Mountain View Colts and Rocky Rams.
The play-in series run from Feb. 20-23.
For full schedule information, visit okotoksbisons.com.
