Men’s hockey sweep their way into a playoff spot
Bisons trump Thunderbirds twice
Ajitpaul Mangat, Staff
The U of M Bisons men’s hockey team entered this past weekend on the outside of the playoff picture and in the midst of a four-game losing streak. Thus, their home series against the UBC Thunderbirds, who sat in the final coveted Canada West playoff spot, was a must-win pair of games for the Bisons’ playoff chances.
The Bison men were first to register a goal in the opening game scoring with just 1:31 remaining in the initial period. Forward Travis Kornelsen’s shot from the slot hit something in front of UBC goaltender Gerry Festa before opportunistically finding its way into the back of the net to give the home team a 1-0 advantage.
The Thunderbirds answered back 5:54 into the second period. With a herd of Bisons in the penalty box: forward Mike Hellyer, forward Jon Cara, and defenceman Myles Rumsey — UBC took advantage of a two-man power play when forward Matt Allen was able to fire a loose puck past Bisons netminder Krister Toews.
The UBC advantage was soon nullified as the determined Bisons took a 2-1 lead less than two minutes later. Forward Chris Falloon was sent on a clear breakaway that he failed to convert, but Kornelsen, following up the play, scored his second goal of the game, as he knocked home the rebound past a sprawling Festa.
The third period saw a pair of goals. Jeff Lynch tied the game at two on a partial breakaway that started at his own blue-line and ultimately ended when he wristed a shot past Toews. But the Bisons, not to be outdone, sealed the game at 12:33 in the third period. Falloon made up for his earlier miss when he was able to score a wrap-around goal to give the home team a vital 3-2 win.
The second game was similarly hard-fought. And, like the first game, the Bisons opened the scoring. After an uneventful first period, the Bisons scored 3:46 into a high-scoring second period. Forward Nick Cowan snapped a shot from the right of the net and adroitly picked the top corner of the UBC net. Then, just 19 seconds later, the Bisons took a 2-0 when a dump-in took an opportunistic bounce off the boards before sliding past a helpless Festa. Defenceman David Brown was credited with the goal.
UBC finally got onto the board by taking advantage of the power play. With Bisons captain Rob Smith in the box, Thunderbird defenceman Craig Lineker blasted a shot from the blue-line that found its way past a barrage of players before ending up in the back to the net to cut the lead to 2-1.
UBC’s special teams proved special again just 54 seconds into the final period. With the Thunderbirds down a man, an arrant no-look pass by Bisons forward Stephane Lenoski sprung forward Darrell May on a breakaway that he took advantage of by sliding the puck five-hole passed Toews.
Bisons captain Smith avenged his earlier costly penalty by scoring late in the game with the two teams deadlocked at two a piece. A Hellyer shot rebounded right to Smith, who gained control of the puck before potting it into an empty net with 4:20 remaining in the game. The Bisons defence held strong during the final minutes of game preserving a well-deserved 3-2 victory.
“We’re battling against these guys for home ice advantage right now,” Smith told Bison Sports. “The standings, there are few teams that are tight, within a few points. So we needed the wins. Coming off road games, we had four game losing slide and we needed to get back on track.”
This two-game sweep over their rivals improves the Herds record to 11-10-1, which puts them at 23 points and places them in fourth place in Canada West. The Bisons trail the third place Calgary Dinos (10-7-4), who have a game in-hand, by one point and now lead the fifth place Thunderbirds (11-13-0), who have played two additional games, by one point.
