EDITOR’S NOTE:
Bloomington, IL – The Bloomington Bison have been very busy with transactions and games. Time to catch up with the team.
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McKAY DEFEATS EX-TEAM FOR VALENTINE’S DAY REVENGE
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
West Valley City, Utah – Dryden McKay stopped 25 shots and was instrumental in killing off nearly nine minutes of shorthanded time as the Bloomington Bison defeated the Utah Grizzlies 3-1 at the Maverik Center on Saturday evening.
The Bison surged early, but Utah scored on its first shot of the game to go up 1-0 just four minutes and 38 seconds into regulation for what would be its only goal. Two minutes later, Mikael Robidoux squared off with a Grizzly at center ice for a fight and helped to return momentum to the visitors. Bloomington drew a penalty just past the halfway mark of the frame, but was not able to score on the man-advantage. Shortly after the game returned to five-on-five, the Bison were assessed a penalty of their own and completed nearly the entire kill. With five seconds left on the minor, Utah was sent to the box to bring up a handful’s worth of four-on-four time before Bloomington went back to the power play. The special teams play denied Utah opportunities to surge in offensive ice and allowed the Bison to take an 8-5 shot advantage into the pivotal middle stanza.
Merely three and a half minutes in, Lou-Felix Denis blasted in his ninth goal of the season from Nikita Sedov and Cullen Ferguson to knot the score. With the helper, Ferguson recorded his third assist of the weekend. Another power-play chance came and went for Bloomington, but the Bison would later find more even-strength success on the way to the game-winning goal. With Robidoux lurking deep in neutral ice, Chris Ortiz connected with him on a pass, and the former lobbed the puck off of Utah’s netminder from the far circle on a partial breakaway. On the near side of the rink, a yawning cage invited Brad Morrisson to bury his second tally as a Bison, and the visitors cashed in to gain their first lead of the weekend at 15:48. Immediately following the Grizzlies’ possession off the ensuing faceoff at center ice, Robidoux was nabbed with a charging major and game misconduct. With three minutes and 50 seconds left in the period, McKay was steadfast in his crease and was credited with 12 saves in the period.
Bloomington completed the remaining 70 seconds of penalty kill carryover time on the major and once again failed to capitalize on a power play with just over 12 minutes left. Shortly thereafter, the Bison succeeded in negating Utah’s third power play and locked in to fend off six-on-five play in the final two minutes. Sullivan Mack punctuated the 3-1 victory with an empty-net goal from Morrison and Zakary Karpa with 13 seconds left on the clock, and McKay earned nine more saves en route to defeating the team that traded him to Bloomington in November of 2025.
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KARPA SCORES TWICE IN LOSS TO GRIZZLIES
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
West Valley City, Utah – Zakary Karpa scored twice, and Cullen Ferguson registered his first multi-point game, but the Bloomington Bison fell 5-3 to the Utah Grizzlies at the Maverik Center on Friday evening.
After coast-to-coast action early, the Bison surrendered a 1-0 while shorthanded at 7:25 of the period. The first tally came just 27 seconds into the first power play of the game, and two minutes later, Bloomington earned an opportunity on the man-advantage. While the power play did not capitalize, less than 40 seconds after returning to even-strength play, the visitors tied the game. Mikhail Abramov skated the puck to the front of the net from the corner in offensive ice and created a rebound. With chaos in front, Chris Ortiz drifted in from the blue line and blasted in his first goal of the season from the top of the far circle. The tally marked his 150th career ECHL point and evened the score with seven minutes and six seconds left in the period. Just over two minutes later, Utah finished off a seam-feed to the slot to regain its lead.
Karpa notched the only goal in the middle frame to tie the game 2-2 when he deflected in a shot-pass from Ferguson and Riku Ishida at 16:22. The Bison killed off two penalties in the second period and were outshot 16-9, in part due to the lopsided special teams chances.
Back-and-forth play resumed coming out of the second intermission, and the Bison fell behind for a third time in the contest just one minute and 50 seconds into the final stanza. Unlike in the prior two instances, this time Bloomington did not answer with the follow-up goal. After failing to capitalize on a power play that created chances, the Bison fell down 4-2 mere seconds after the Grizzlies returned to full strength. Ishida, Ferguson, and Sullivan Mack set up another Karpa redirect at 11:15, with the latter two registering assists, but Utah iced the game with a final goal with less than three minutes remaining. Bloomington held the Grizzlies from scoring an empty-net goal, but was not able to score with an extra attacker on the ice for the final two and a half minutes.
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BISON SIGN DEFENSEMAN IVAN CHUKAROV
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Bloomington, Ill. – Bloomington Bison Head Coach and VP of Hockey Operations, Phillip Barski, announced today that the team has signed defenseman Ivan Chukarov to a standard player contract.
Chukarov, 30, began the season with the EIHL’s Coventry Blaze and notched nine points (2g-7a) in 23 games played.
The 6-foot-2, 203-pound blueliner was selected with the 182nd overall pick in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres.
Prior to his stint with Coventry, the Des Plaines, Illinois native spent parts of six seasons in the ECHL with Jacksonville, Adirondack, and Worcester and amassed 93 points (18g-75a) in 286 career games with a +20 rating. Additionally, Chukarov has appeared in one American Hockey League game with the Utica Comets.
He played four seasons at UMass, totaling 128 NCAA Division-I games played, and spent his Junior career with the NAHL’s Minnesota Wilderness, with whom he won a Robertson Cup Championship and recorded 55 points (16g-39a) in 99 games with a plus-39 rating.
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BISON ANNOUNCE GUNS & HOSES CHARITY TICKET BUNDLE
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Bloomington, Ill. – Bloomington Bison President Andy Zilch announced today details for the Guns & Hoses ticket package, which includes tickets to both the annual charity game between the Bloomington Police and Bloomington Fire departments and the Bison vs. Fort Wayne Komets games on Saturday, March 14 at Grossinger Motors Arena.
The Guns & Hoses game raises money for the Law Enforcement Torch Run, benefiting Special Olympics of Central Illinois, and $17 is donated from every ticket bundle purchase!
Starting at just $33, fans who purchase the bundle will receive access to both the 2 p.m. Guns & Hoses game and the 7 p.m. Bison vs Fort Wayne Komets game. Attendees at the charity game will be asked to exit the venue while it is prepared for the Bison game.
Guns & Hoses ticket bundles can be purchased at gofevo.com/group/Bloomingtonbison20.
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TUNG, BISON SHUT OUT KOMETS
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Fort Wayne, Ind. – Callum Tung made 37 saves for his first professional shutout and Sullivan Mack scored twice as the Bloomington Bison defeated the Fort Wayne Komets 5-0 at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
Lou-Felix Denis started the scoring for Bloomington just one minute and 44 seconds into the game when he caught a pass from Brad Morrison and deked out the Komets netminder. The Bison carried the pace of play for nearly the entire period and added on to the lead to go up 2-0 at 13:05. Eddie Matsushima entered the offensive zone and dropped the puck for Shane Ott, who rifled in his ninth goal of the season from the top of the faceoff circle. Tung made 12 saves in the first period and limited rebounds with strong positional goaltending.
Less than five minutes into the second, Bloomington capitalized on a Fort Wayne breakdown, and Mack finished off an odd-man-rush opportunity from Morrison and Matsushima to climb up 3-0. The offensive outburst continued late in the period when Zakary Karpa made it 4-0. Mikhail Abramov drew attention to himself along the boards just inside the blue line before sailing a pass to Ayden MacDonald on the far side of the ice. MacDonald then left a drop pass for Karpa, who rifled in the fourth Bison goal with less than two and a half minutes remaining. Tung saved all 10 shots thrown on net in the period and would be tested even more in the third.
Bloomington began the final frame on a power play thanks to a slashing penalty at the horn, and Mack scored from Abramov and Denis at 1:39 to give the Bison their fifth goal. Fort Wayne outshot the visitors 15-3 in the period, and Tung was under siege for most of the final 10 minutes of the game. With nearly five minutes left, he made a full-extension, post-hugging stop on a rebound bid and finished the game with 37 saves.
With the win, Bloomington jumped two points ahead of the Indy Fuel for sole possession of third place in the Central Division, and now trails Fort Wayne by just five points for second place.
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BISON COMEBACK FALLS SHORT IN KALAMAZOO
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Bloomington Bison erased two deficits in the second period but ultimately fell 5-2 to the Kalamazoo Wings at Wings Event Center on Saturday evening.
Early on, the Bison were denied an offensive zone entry and earned a power play on the sequence, but the Wings killed it off. Less than seven minutes into the game, Mikael Robidoux was drawn into a battle along the boards and got into a fight. After returning to play, he alerted Kalamazoo’s attention again and was assessed a roughing minor while drawing a double-minor on his assailant to give Bloomington another power play. Despite chances, it was also killed off, and with under two minutes left in the period, Kalamazoo took a 1-0 lead when a point shot was deflected in. The Bison would head to the second period, outshooting the Wings 11-9, and came up with an important penalty kill in the first few minutes of the middle frame.
Soon after killing off a hooking penalty that denied a breakaway shot, Bloomington tied the game off an odd-man rush. Zak Karpa pressured a Wing at the blue line and stole the puck while Kyle Jackson joined him near center ice. Jackson then cashed in on a one-timed shot to punctuate the two-on-zero play and tie the game at 8:26 of the second. Less than four minutes later, however, the Wings found success on the power play and buried a rebound to go up 2-1 at 12:12. Composure and patience paid off for Bloomington down the stretch of the stanza as Karpa drew a cross-checking penalty that set up another game-tying goal in the final minutes. Riku Ishida blasted in his sixth power-play goal of the season, from Jackson and Shane Ott, to knot the score 2-2 with 2:59 left on the clock. Forty seconds later, the Wings were called for a major charging penalty and gave the Bison a five minute powerplay that stretched into the beginning of the third, but the final three goals of the game favored Kalamazoo.
Through 40 minutes, Bloomington outshot the Wings 25-18, and the Bison scored twice on 14 shots in the second, but they’d only come out with six attempts in the third despite more powerplay time. Near the halfway point of the period, the visitors surrendered a two-on-one and allowed the tie-breaking goal at 8:02 while four-on-four. The Wings seemed to put the tight game out of reach when they went up 4-2 with three minutes and 49 seconds left and iced it with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
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KALEINIKOVAS LIFTS BISON OVER WINGS
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Kalamazoo, Mich. – Mark Kaleinikovas scored twice and recorded an assist to lead the Bloomington Bison to a 5-2 victory over the Kalamazoo Wings at Wings Event Center on Friday evening.
The Bison surrendered the first period’s only goal just two minutes and 13 seconds into the contest off a broken play. A shot from the blueline sailed off a defenseman and bounced up into the air before falling into the back of the net. Bloomington was successful when tasked with killing off a hooking minor penalty before the end of the period, and it headed into the second frame being outshot 8-5 and down 1-0 on the scoreboard.
Less than two minutes after getting their own chance on the power play near the halfway point of regulation, the Bison scored to tie the game. Kaleinikovas buried a rebound from Eddie Matsushima after Shane Ott forced a turnover from behind the net to get Bloomington on the board at 12:46. One minute and 41 seconds later, Ayden MacDonald gave the visitors a 2-1 lead from Cullen Ferguson and Riku Ishida, and Bloomington took a one-goal lead into the final frame after outshooting Kalamazoo 12-7 in the second.
Nikita Sedov increased the Bison lead under four minutes into the third period, with Kaleinikovas and Ott earning assists on the play, and that trio struck again before too long. Kaleinikovas began his second scoring play of the game after intercepting a Wings pass in his own zone and starting a two-on-one rush with Ott. Sedov joined the rush as a high-slot passing option and got the puck from Ott, drew attention to himself, and set up Kaleinikovas for a one-timer from the left circle. Dryden McKay was tested down the stretch and fended off 12 of 13 shots-faced during the final frame, but the Wings cashed in on their third powerplay of the game to bring up a 4-2 score at 15:59. Bloomington extinguished any further momentum sparked from the goal when Eddie Matsushima scored an empty-net goal with over two minutes left on the clock to secure the 5-2 victory.
The Bison are back on home ice for Country Night, presented by Texas Roadhouse, when Brushville will perform a free post-game concert for all ticketed fans, and the first 2,000 in the building will receive a free cowboy hat!
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BRUSHVILLE TO PERFORM FOLLOWING BISON GAME
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Bloomington, Ill. – Bloomington Bison President Andy Zilch announced today that Brushville will perform after the game on Country Night presented by Texas Roadhouse on Saturday, February 21. Doors will open at 5 p.m. for a special 6 p.m. puck drop, and the concert will be free for all ticketed fans at the Bison game.
Brushville is known for its high-energy live performances and uses an array of instruments to create an unforgettable experience of upbeat Rock and Country.
The first 2,000 fans through the doors will receive a Bison and Busch Light co-branded cowboy hat, and fans will have a chance to win free tickets to upcoming concerts at the BCPA and Grossinger Motors Arena throughout the evening!
Country and western-themed game presentation elements will include a rib-eating contest and an appearance from Texas Roadhouse mascot, Andy the Armadillo. Additionally, pulled pork mac and cheese will be featured at concession stands.
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BISON SIGN FORMER NHL GOALTENDER GARRET SPARKS
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Bloomington, Ill. – Bloomington Bison Head Coach and VP of Hockey Operations, Phillip Barski, announced today that former NHL goaltender and AHL Champion Garret Sparks has signed a Standard Player Contract with the team.
Sparks, 32, joined the Bison as an emergency backup goaltender for a stint in late November of 2025 but most recently played during the 2023-24 season, when he appeared in two games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and five games with the Wheeling Nailers.
The 6-foot-3, 201-pound Elmhurst, Illinois, native was selected 190th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and has played in 40 NHL games. On November 30, 2015, Sparks made his NHL debut and became the first goaltender in Maple Leafs history to record a shutout in his first appearance.
Sparks’ list of achievements includes winning an AHL Calder Cup Championship during the 2017-18 season with the Toronto Marlies, earning a spot on the AHL First All-Star Team, being named the recipient of the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goaltender and winning the Hap Holmes Memorial Award for allowing the fewest goals against in the league that season. He posted a 31-9-3 record in the regular season for the most wins of any goaltender and also had a league-high 1.79 goals against average and .936 save percentage.
In total, Sparks has a 15-18-2 record in the NHL with Toronto, Vegas and Los Angeles, a 99-60-13 record in the AHL with numerous teams, and a 37-21-8 record in the ECHL with Orlando and Wheeling.
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McKAY NAMED ECHL GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Bloomington, Ill. – Dryden McKay has been named the Warrior Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Month for January 2026, the league announced today.
The Downers Grove, Illinois native posted a 6-3-0 record with three shutouts, a .154 goals-against average, and a save percentage of .952 in nine appearances during the month.
McKay, 28, allowed two goals or fewer in six of his eight starts and made at least 30 saves in four games. He is tied for fourth in the ECHL with 13 wins, tied for fifth with a 2.18 goals-against average, and ranks fourth with a .929 save percentage in 24 appearances this season.
With Bloomington, he has a 12-7-1 record, 2.05 goals-against average, and .934 save percentage in 20 appearances.
Prior to beginning his professional career, McKay appeared in 140 career games at Minnesota State University-Mankato, where he went 113-20-4 with 34 shutouts, a 1.46 goal-against average, and a .932 save percentage. He earned the Hobey Baker Award for the 2021-22 season after posting a 38-5 record with 10 shutouts in 43 appearances.
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OLLAS, MacDONALD SECURE SHOOTOUT WIN
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Kalamazoo, Mich. – Ayden MacDonald scored the game-winning shootout goal and added two assists, while Hugo Ollas stopped 36 shots and was perfect in the skills competition to lead the Bloomington Bison to a 4-3 win over the Kalamazoo Wings at Wings Event Center on Sunday afternoon.
The teams traded big, legal hits early, with Brenden Datema and Mikael Robidoux setting the tone, and Bloomington spent nearly the first five minutes in offensive territory. After Kalamazoo managed an outlet down ice, Ollas made a post-to-post save for his best look early, and a collision inside the line led to a Wings power play. Eddie Matsushima created multiple opportunities over the next two minutes, despite his team being shorthanded. The Bison continued to push, and at 12:36, Mikhail Abramov finished off a two-on-one drive from Shane Ott and Cullen Ferguson to give Bloomington a 1-0 lead. With 70 seconds left in the period, Robidoux slithered behind the defense and caught a breakaway pass, but chipped the puck wide.
Ollas fought off a shot through traffic as the home team began the second frame with life, but the Bison remained composed and soon increased their lead to two goals. MacDonald set up the play to earn a secondary assist when Brad Morrison potted in a rebound off Sullivan Mack’s shot less than two and a half minutes in. Morrison was playing in his second game as a Bison, after previously playing 69 games with the Wings. After jumping ahead 2-0, Bloomington once again found a seam-pass option, but the puck carrier was dumped at the blue line, and a scrum ensued. The Bison were soon denied a chance to capitalize on a three-on-two break, but continued to press until the Wings broke through on the scoreboard with 3:37 on the clock. Riku Ishida erased another Kalamazoo chance as they loaded up for a one-timed shot a minute later, and Bloomington drew a penalty. Following a clear by the shorthanded Wings, Ollas played the puck quickly back up ice to MacDonald, who re-entered the zone and continued a give-and-go. Ott and Ishida played catch, and Ott tipped in the 3-1 power-play goal with 15 seconds left in the stanza.
The Bison drew back-to-back power plays to begin the third, and five minutes in, Morrison dropped the gloves after a teammate was rocked down to the ice. Physical play continued, and Bloomington was assessed an extra roughing penalty at 9:02, which sent Kalamazoo back to the power play. With one minute left in the penalty, the Bison were called for slashing, and 29 seconds later, the Wings scored. Bloomington killed off the next 91 seconds of five-on-four play, but Kalamazoo kept pressure on. Ollas denied a spin-o-rama attempt with four minutes left and earned a whistle after extended Wings zone-time. With 90 seconds left and an extra attacker on the ice, the Bison netminder turned aside a breakaway chance, but Kalamazoo broke through with the game-tying goal 12 seconds later after winning the ensuing faceoff to force overtime.
Matsushima was stonewalled point-blank 47 ticks into the extra frame, and then Ollas answered the bell with a breakaway denial on the next shift. Bloomington was called for holding during a neutral ice battle to give the Wings a power play with 4:36 left in the extra time frame, and the Bison were limited in their chances. Ollas closed his left arm down to his chest to negate a two-on-one with 40 seconds left on the clock, and that brought up the shootout. The Bison were denied on their first two attempts, but MacDonald buried the game-winning tally in the bottom of the third round after Ollas kept Kalamazoo at bay, and Bloomington captured its third shootout win of the season.
Bloomington returns to home ice on Friday, February 20, for a 309 Night featuring $3 Busch Light cans and sodas, $0 popcorn, and $9 double-slice pizza specials!
Single-game tickets are available for ALL Bloomington Bison home games starting as low as $20! Visit ticketmaster.com or call 309-965-HERD to purchase tickets today.
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