Bisons split weekend series with Pronghorns
Vuthana Suon Staff
In a game highlighted by spoiled opportunities and a lackadaisical effort put forth by the Bisons, the Lethbridge Pronghorns pounced on the herd to claim a 2-1 win at the Max Bell Arena on Sunday, Feb. 5.
The game was in stark contrast to the first game of the weekend series on Saturday, which saw the Bisons take control early en route to a convincing 3-1 win. Second-year Bison sensation Leanne Kisil notched two goals in that game.
Despite out-shooting the Pronghorns 27-16, and with six power play opportunities to the Pronghorns’ two, the Bisons couldn’t capitalize and walked away from Sunday’s game with their eighth loss of the season.
“They just worked harder than we did; we didn’t capitalize on our chances,” said Bison head coach Jon Rempel.
At the start of the game, both teams played with hesitation, ending in a stalemate at the end of the first period. The herd took an 11 to 2 shot advantage, though neither team was able to muster up much in the way of momentum.
The second period, however, was when the Horns took charge.
Drawing first blood, Carly Merkeley of the Horns scored an even-strength goal on the Bisons’ Stacey Corfield. The celebration heated up soon after, as the Horns’ Samantha Schneyder scored the game-winning goal on Corfield to go up two. At this point in the game, Manitoba had taken a commanding 19 to 9 shot advantage, yet they were scoreless.
Hoping to finish up their last regular season home game with a win, the Bisons responded in the third period.
On the last of the Bisons’ six power plays, second-year Bison centre Katherine O’Rourke scored her first goal of the season on a redirection of Stacy Parkman’s shot from the point, bringing the Bisons to within one. This was as close as they would come, however, as Lethbridge tightened up the defence and used an aggressive forecheck to limit Manitoba to bad shots.
Ranked third in the Canada West conference in power plays at 19 per cent, the herd went 1-4 on the day, yet they could not take advantage of the discrepancy in the number of penalties called in their favour.
“The key to the loss was that we didn’t compete hard enough; they wanted it more,” said an obviously disappointed Rempel. “We made bad decisions with the puck all afternoon and we just got outworked.”
The Bisons, currently ranked at eighth in the nation, will see their next action in Regina on Feb. 10 and 11, when they take on the nationally fourth-ranked Cougars in what will be their last games of the regular season.
