The CFR Chemical Triple 'A' Bisons officially begin the defence of their AMHL League title from a year ago Wednesday night when they open up their South Division series with the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs.

The Bisons earned a bye into the semis after clinching second on the last weekend of the regular season.

Red Deer took care of the Calgary Buffaloes in the quarter finals sweeping their best of three by winning both games in overtime and do have the season series on the Bisons heading into game one winning both regular season games this year.

Bisons Head Coach Sandy Henry says the Bisons will be in a war with the Chiefs.

"We think if we can be consistent and play our game and force our game on them that we'll be able to get by most of the teams that we would face and I'm sure they're thinking the same thing that's the culture of playoffs."

Henry says an extra week of preparation was just what the herd needed going in the playoffs,

"We just gotta ready to play consistent, be tough, have a good work ethic, roll our lines the best we can and keep our bench as fresh as we can and hope our goaltending where it's been all year so that's the job ahead."

Henry will have six veterans on this year's team in Kyle Gordon, Gary Haden, Cam Shorrock, Zach Cox, Quaid McBean and Zach Vinnell that went all the way to the Telus Cup and hopes what they learned last season will help them repeat as league champions.

"Those six guys understand the process, they understand the preparation that the playoffs are a different beast and you have to re-prepare yourself and re-focus to be successful."=

The full Best of 5 Schedule can be found below.

Series D - Foothills CFR Chemical Bisons  vs  Red Deer Optimist Chiefs

G1    Feb 24  Strathmore           7:00pm
G2    26         Red Deer Aren      8:00pm
G3    28         Strathmore           2:00pm
G4    Mar 1    Red Deer Arena    7:30pm (if necessary)
G5    5          Strathmore            6:30pm (if necessary)

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