Pandas end Bisons’ season with OT win
Vuthana Suon Staff
With a 5-4 overtime loss on February 25 in Edmonton, the Bison women’s hockey team fell to the powerhouse Alberta Pandas in the Canada West final for the second year in a row.
Since the Pandas had posted a 16-1 regular season record and had won four straight Canada West conference titles (and eight out of the last nine), it would be appropriate to say that, in Can West women’s hockey, all roads lead to Alberta.
Although the cards were stacked against them, the Bisons were ready to tackle that challenge head on.
With the help of first-year goaltender Stacey Corfield, who was named a co-Canada West conference rookie player of the year, the Bisons stayed competitive for much of the first game of the series, played on Feb. 24. This was despite being outshot 25-5 by the end of the second period.
The Pandas’ persistence paid off though, when, with two minutes left in the second, Alanna Donahue opened up the scoring with a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead into the second intermission. Another power play goal at the beginning of the third gave Alberta a 2-0 lead.
Looking to make a game of it, the Bisons pulled Corfield in the last four minutes of the final frame. This strategy worked, as Stephanie Messner scored with 3:48 remaining, closing the Panda lead to 2-1.
However, the Pandas were able to put in an empty-netter, winning the game by a score of 3-1, and taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
“I thought Stacey [Corfield] played really well for us – she gave us a chance to win and we just didn’t quite have enough,” said Bison head coach Jon Rempel.
The second game of the series was a testament to the never-give-up qualities of the Bisons. Down 3-0 after the first period, the Bisons fought back behind the play of Messner, who recorded the herd’s first goal. They would eventually tie the game at 4-4, forcing overtime.
It appeared as though a first overtime period would solve nothing, but with only 15 seconds left in the overtime frame, Alberta’s Taryn Barry scored a wrap-around goal to take the game, and the series.
“They just battled their hearts out these last few games,” said Rempel. “They gave it everything they had and it just wasn’t quite enough.”
With the loss, coach Rempel and the rest of the Bisons can now reflect on the season that was.
“If you had asked me at the beginning of the season if we’d be playing in the Canada West finals, I would have said no, because we lost a lot of our players,” said Rempel. “But this team really came together, and it goes to show that you don’t always need the best players . . . you need a group that wants to work hard.
“It was an extremely gratifying experience coaching this group.”
