Bison offensive flurry takes out T-birds
Move on to next round of playoffs
Romer Bautista, Staff
Photo courtesy of Bison Sports
The University of Manitoba Bison men’s hockey team found a good time to get their offensive game to start clicking. They put up 10 goals over the weekend, as they swept their best-of-three Canada West quarterfinals 2-0 over the UBC Thunderbirds. The Bisons blanked the Thunderbirds 6-0 in game one on Friday night and then finished them off with a 4-2 win in game two on Saturday night.
Bison head coach Don MacGillivray was pleased with his team’s ability to take advantage of their chances. “You only get a certain amount of opportunities in the games, and I thought that this weekend we bared down and made the most of our opportunities,” he said.
Kyle Howarth got Friday night’s goal party started with a power-play marker 7:48 into the first frame. It was the first of three goals that the Bisons would score in the period, as Calin Wild and Chris Falloon each scored even-strength goals before the frame was up.
Forward Jared Walker, who assisted on two of the first period goals, added Manitoba’s fourth of the night five minutes into the second period. The goal also ended Thunderbird’s goalie Gerry Festa’s night early, as he was pulled in favour of Francois Thuot after allowing four of 11 shots to get by him.
Thuot, however, could not stop Walker of the Bison’s offence. Walker added to his point total by having a helping hand on the final two Manitoba goals of the game: Riley Dudar’s second period goal and Falloon’s second marker of the night, a third-period-power-play score.
While not tested too often, Bisons’ netminder Krister Toews was solid between the pipes. He stopped all 23 shots sent his way.
UBC stormed onto the ice on Saturday night determined to get off to a better start. They controlled the play in the first period, out-shooting the home team 12-8. They were rewarded for their efforts just past the halfway mark of the period when Craig Lineker got one past Toews to put the visitors up one heading into the first intermission.
UBC failed to keep the momentum going in the second period after they gave the Bisons power play a 5-on-3 advantage 4:07 into the frame. Jordan Beirnes was called for a cross-checking penalty with teammate Lance Morrisson already in the box for a high-sticking violation. The Bisons took advantage of the situation as Chris Falloon and Rob Smith set-up Riley Dudar to knot the game at one.
The goal sparked yet another Bison offensive explosion. Four minutes later, Chris Falloon streaked into the offensive zone, put on the breaks and fed the trailing Myles Rumsey, who buried it top-shelf blocker side past Thuot to give the Bisons a 2-1 lead. The Bisons made it four unanswered goals, as Mike Hellyer and Falloon each added a goal to put the Bisons up 4-1.
The Thunderbirds’ Kevin Seibel kept hope alive for UBC with an even strength goal at the end of the second period, but Toews shut the door on those chances with some stellar play in the final period.
Toews stayed cool under strong pressure in the final twenty minutes. He managed to turn aside all 14 shots he faced in the period, even after being caught behind the net, being caught without his stick, and facing not one, but two, UBC two-man advantages.
In total, Toews turned away 32 saves in the victory.
With their season slipping away, frustration set in, and the Thunderbirds began unraveling. The Thunderbirds committed 21 penalties for a total of 106 penalty minutes, including three game misconducts.
Coach MacGillivray commented after the series how the series win was a team effort. “Our top players were our best players on the weekend, but in saying that, we had a good effort from some of the other guys that don’t score goals on a regular basis but contributed in other ways,” he said. “There’s not any one [player] in particular [that stood out], it’s pretty much the group. You don’t beat a team like UBC without a full team effort.”
With the series win, the Bisons will now move on to face the number-two-ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West semifinals.
