New year, same result for the league-leading Carstar Okotoks Bisons.
Okotoks showed no signs of rust in its return from a 20-day holiday break with a convincing 5-0 shutout over the Strathmore Wheatland Kings to kick off 2024 in style on Jan. 5 at the Murray Arena.
“With the long layoff, you’ve got to get your conditioning back so we found ourselves in the first period just pushing pucks deep and trying to get them on net,” said Bisons defenceman Caden Scott. “And then we started really pushing the pace in the second and third and took it to them.”
The proverbial bag skate had the desired effect, added Scott.
“It was a good Christmas break, we had practice Tuesday and Thursday and got together quick and followed that up today which was pretty good,” said Bisons forward Jady Shigehiro. “It was coming back and showing our crowd what we’re about for 2024.”
So far, that gameplan has featured an authoritative powerplay.
Okotoks struck for four of its five goals on the man advantage with Jake Snashall, Shigehiro, Easton Dean and Scott, the latter on a perfect backdoor feed from Adam Kirkpatrick, finding the back of the net. Snashall notched the other tally at even strength.
The Bisons, who are the runaway leaders in penalty kill efficiency, boast the fourth-ranked powerplay unit in the 13-team loop.
“We practise it lots, there’s lots of competition and everyone wants to do well and there’s lots of pressure in practice,” Scott said. “At the same time, we’ve got a lot of returning guys and have got that chemistry there and we’ve really started to snap it around.
“I think that’s probably one of our most improved parts of the game compared to the start of the year.”
Grady Nicholas made 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, matching his HJHL career high from last season.
The 21-year-old netminder picked up his 20th win of the campaign, backstopping the Bisons to a 4-3 overtime win over Cochrane on Jan. 6.
Shigehiro notched the winner 1:14 into the extra session after Snashall scored the equalizer late in regulation. Scott and Owen McFarlane also scored in the win.
Okotoks (24-2-0) continues a busy eight-game month with a Jan. 12 home date versus the second-place Medicine Hat Cubs before a rematch with the Wheatland Kings the following night in Strathmore.
“We’ve got a tough stretch over the last 15 games here so it will be a good test for us,” Scott said.
For more information, go to okotoksbisons.com.
