Bison Continue To 'Learn And Grow' Ahead of Kalamazoo Matchup

We knew there would be some hiccups in the early goings of the Bloomington Bison's inaugural ECHL season.

A new roster of players who have little or no experience playing together takes time. Sometimes, those results manifest themselves at inopportune times on the ice. The Bison dropped last Saturday's game to the Wheeling Nailers in heartbreaking fashion.

Bloomington saw its one-goal lead evaporate in a matter of 15 seconds, as Wheeling tied the game with 28 seconds left in regulation and took the lead shortly thereafter.

"We thought we were the better team for about 59 minutes and 30 seconds, but that's why it's a 60-minute game and as our group continues to learn and grow, those are the experiences that will really pay dividends for us moving forward," Bison head coach and general manager Phillip Barski said in a recent interview.

The Bison opened the scoring on captain Eddie Matsushima's second-period goal. Bloomington largely controlled the shot-on-goal advantage through the first two frames, outshooting the Nailers 19-14.

However, Wheeling came out to start the third period with renewed vigor and applied the pressure. The Nailers outshot the Bison 15-6 in the final frame and broke through in the final minute of play.

The loss dropped the Bison to 2-4-0-1 on the season through the first seven games of play.

"It's obviously a tough pill to swallow, but those are the things that really galvanize a group and something that you can really build off, learn from, and correct going forward," said Barski.

Bloomington's scoring continues to be a work in progress. The Bison have scored just 14 goals in seven games this season, which ranks in the bottom half of the league.

Again, it will take time for this select group of players to find that chemistry and determine a working strategy.

Still, the Bison have shown tremendous resolve in every game.

Bloomington has scored just three goals in the first period this season. However, the Bison have responded well to adversity, scoring a combined 11 goals over the final two periods of play.

Not overwhelming stats by any means, but there are certainly positives to take away as this group gains more experience playing together.

"It's going to be a work in progress for the whole season," said Barski. "We're obviously an expansion team, and we're trying to get the culture set in. We're trying to get the expectation set in. That's one of those things that takes numerous seasons, but if I look at the small picture over the last couple weeks, I do think our game is trending in the right direction.

"As I shared with the players, first you start playing the right way, and then you get the results. That's, to me, the bigger message that we've been sharing with our players here."

The Bison will see another team for the first time this season on Friday night, with Kalamazoo set to visit Grossinger Motors Arena.

The Wings are averaging 3.40 goals per game and allowing a stout 1.20 goals per game, which is the best in the ECHL.

Ty Young and Jonathan Lemieux have formed a dynamic duo in net for Kalamazoo.

Young owns a 1.01 goals-against average and a .974 save percentage in two appearances. Meanwhile, Lemieux sports a 1.33 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage in three games.

Barski knows the challenges of continuing to grow as a team while tailoring their game to test Kalamazoo's goaltenders.

"We're going to have to generate some traffic," he said. "We haven't been scoring a lot of goals, and our power play has really been struggling. Obviously, we worked on that today (in practice) to try and fine-tune a few things, and we moved some people around in order to give other guys opportunities. That's the cool thing about when something's not working all of a sudden somebody else gets an opportunity to see if they can step in that role."

The Bison and Wings will drop the puck at 7:00 p.m. CST on Friday, the first of two games for Bloomington on the weekend. The Bison will visit Iowa on Saturday.