‘Killer’ goal stands up as Bison can’t complete sweep
Bison women split weekend series with Huskies
Sheri Lamb STAFF
Saturday, January 14. Photo by Derek Law.
Typically, a goal in the last minute of a period in a hockey game can shift momentum, often determining the final outcome.
This scenario held true for the Bisons women’s hockey team, who gave up a short-handed goal in the last minute of the second period, going on to lose 2-1 to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
The Huskies (3-8-2) took control in the second on Saturday, Jan. 14 at Max Bell Arena, scoring two goals and out-shooting the herd 12-5. Already leading 1-0, the Huskies’ only fifth-year player, Andrea Zabloski, out-hustled the Bison power play unit for a loose puck, putting a one-timer past goalkeeper Heather Ash at 19:46.
Bison head coach Jon Rempel was disappointed with his team’s breakdown after their penalty-killing unit held them in the game in the middle frame.
“That’s a killer,” said Rempel. “You’re on a power play and you’ve killed off five or six penalties in the second period, and you’ve managed to stave them off, and it was basically a breakdown . . . that’s a killer going into the room.”
A power play goal late in the third by Sarah Stebeleski — her second goal of the weekend — closed the herd to within one.
Adding to the Huskies’ domination in the middle frame was a steady parade to the penalty box by the herd, including a double minor to Anne Hedley, forcing them to play with four skaters for almost half the period. After taking only two penalties on Friday night, the Bisons were playing shorthanded eight times in game two. The Bisons were already the most penalized team in Canada West, with 87 trips to the box for an average of 15.1 per cent a game.
“Friday night was the first time we’ve had less penalties than another team, I think,” said Rempel. “I don’t like to criticize the officials, but to give us a whole bunch of penalties when a couple of their players are running around knocking my players all over the place and then try to make it up at the end of the game, to me, it’s complete B.S.”
Still, Rempel knows his team didn’t show what they’re capable of.
“But, I’m not going to fault the officials, we didn’t compete hard enough,” he said. “I told our team before the game that we had to come out and it was going to be a lot more difficult tonight, because they would come harder on the second night.”
The weekend split leaves the road-weary Bisons with a 6-6-2 record, with six games remaining in the regular season.
Huskies head coach Steve Kook is happy his team with 11 rookies has been competitive in the tough Canada West this season.
“We’re fighting for a playoff spot and it’ll be between us, Manitoba, Lethbridge and UBC, and we play each other going into the final three or four series,” said Kook. “Had we lost this one we’d really be scraping bottom to make playoffs.”
On Friday, the Bisons fell behind early but stormed back in the final two periods to beat the Huskies 2-1. The herd out-shot their opponents 38-17.
Bison Amy McQuoid is done for the year with a knee injury, suffered on the team’s trip to UBC January 6 and 7.
Next Up: The Bisons are off to Wilcox, Sask., where they will play a pair of exhibition games on Jan. 20 and 21 against Notre Dame before returning home to face off with the University of Alberta Pandas on Jan. 27 and 28 at Max Bell (7 p.m.).
