With three games left in 2015, the Banff Hockey Academy Bears look to remain hungry in the HJHL playoffs race.
“We’re fighting for a playoff spot even though we’re in the middle of the pack,” said BHA coach Bill Doherty, following a split weekend for the team.
“We’ve asked our players to focus on the process … It gets tougher moving forward because everyone is looking for a playoff spot.”
The Bears (10-13-1) took out the Three Hills Thrashers 6-5 on Saturday (Dec. 12) before the Okotoks Bisons steamrolled BHA 9-1, Sunday at Fenlands.
BHA currently sits in a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot with 21 points.
With 14 games remaining in regular season for BHA, Doherty is asking his young team for consistency on the ice.
The Bears saw a hailstorm of shots whistle past as they were outshot 67-23 in the loss Sunday.
Doherty said from a coaching perspective it’s going back to the drawing board. From a team’s perspective, BHA needs to be better.
“We expect a lot out of our young group (and) sometimes it might be too much. (Sunday’s game) might be one of those times,” said Doherty.
“We were intimidated tonight for sure. You could see there was no jump to be first to the pucks … that’s why teams get 60 shots.”
In the first, the Bears were tied with the Bisons with one goal apiece when late in the frame Okotoks exploded and found the back of the net three times within a one-minute stretch.
Philip Schader scored Banff’s only goal.
The Bisons did more of the same to start the second and two quick goals ended Banff goalie Jacob Anthony’s night in favour of Joel Lepper.
It was an unrelenting period of shots against and bullying, with the Bears mostly in their zone as frustrations began to bubble.
First it was scrappy Bears player Ayrton Chapman going toe-to-toe with Okotoks’ Taylor McNeill. Then, an unlikely fisticuffs matchup saw five-foot-nine and 165 pounds of Banff’s Kenta Tanaka taking on Okotoks six-foot-three, 220-pound Keifer Schaufler.
Fans braced for the worst, but Tanaka was able to hold his own against the hulking Bison – but it’s not something Doherty wants to see Tanaka do often.
A scary moment for Banff’s Antonio Najera occurred in the third after a crunching check by Robbie McLean put him down for an extended period of time with a wrist injury. McLean was ejected from the game.
“We thought it was broken at first, (but) it looks like it might not be. We’re going to get it X-rayed,” said Doherty.
The Bears play three games in a row at Fenlands to finish out the year starting Friday (Dec. 18) against Strathmore.
