Red Deer Vipers 7, Carstar Okotoks Bisons 2 — Final
The Red Deer Vipers opened their season with a 7-2 win over the Carstar Okotoks Bisons on Friday night at Murray & Piper Arena, scoring the final five goals of the game after the teams traded shorthanded and even-strength markers to open things up.
Okotoks struck first on a shorthanded goal from Grayson Graves at 5:15, but Red Deer’s Mason Hammerback tied it at 9:08. Noah Provan put Okotoks back up 2-1 at 9:31 before Brady Leroux answered for Red Deer at 12:50 to make it 2-2 after twenty minutes.
Red Deer took the lead for good in the second on power-play goals from Xaiden Bignell (1:16) and Mason Hastings (8:54), making it 4-2 through forty minutes. The Vipers added three more in the third — Leroux’s second of the night (13:17), Cash Christensen (15:37), and Dawson Weigum (16:25) — to close out the 7-2 final. Red Deer out-shot Okotoks 36-19 for the game.
Cole McLean made 17 saves on 19 shots for the win in Red Deer’s net; Okotoks’ Derrick Ford stopped 29 of 36 in the loss.