Bisons one win away from three-peat

The Carstar Okotoks Bisons have now put the pressure on the Sylvan Lake Wranglers, winning game five 3-0 on Friday night (March 29) and now claim a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Hertiage Junior B (HJHL) finals.

The game started off even with each team getting some shots in, but it was the Herd who would gain momentum after killing a Scott Brown penalty and going on the man advantage, cycling the puck around and hemming the Wranglers in their own zone. Adam Kirkpatrick would score late in the first with a nice backhanded rebound to give the Bisons the 1-0 lead and scoring the eventual game winning goal.

Adam Kirkpatrick celebrating after scoring the game winning goal in game five.

The Herd would finish the first period with a heavy lead in shots 18-5.

In the second it was the Bisons finding the back of the net twice and continuing to pile shots on the Wranglers netminder. Caden Scott would get the second goal with Nolan Smith getting an assist. The Bisons then scored the third unanswered goal late in the second period when Daniel Tainton would get open space and get one past Kaden Toussaint, the Wranglers goaltender. Final shot count in the second was 33-17.

In the third period, Bisons would play sound defensive hockey, limiting the desperate Wranglers team to only six shots and giving Grady Nicholas his second shutout of the post season and his first of the series.

Grady Nicholas freezing the puck after one of his 23 saves on the night.

Okotoks and Sylvan Lake will battle it out Saturday in Sylvan Lake as the Bisons try to close the series and give themselves a shot as "three-peat" champions in the HJHL.

Game six starts at 8:00.