Busy weekend for Bison sports
Women’s volleyball and men’s hockey share spotlight at home
Ajitpaul Mangat, Staff
Alberta’s Aaron Sorochan lets a goal in as the Bisons defeated the Golden Bears on Oct. 26.
It was a sublime beginning to the Manitoba Bisons women’s volleyball campaign, as they swept the Regina Cougars in a two-game home weekend series. The Bisons validated their preseason No. 1 CIS ranking by thoroughly dominating the No. 6-ranked Cougars.
“This is a pretty nice group. We’re good in every position. It’s probably the most balanced lineup I’ve ever had,” said Coach Ken Bentley. “It’s potentially the best team I’ve ever had here.”
The Bisons won a tight first period 26-24. A dominating frame by the Cougars followed, as they took the second set 25-14.
The turning point of the match occurred early in the third set of play. The combination of Sarah Morrissette and Ashley Voth terrorized the Cougars by scoring nine and six serving points respectively. This dominating display put the Bisons up by a comfortable 15-3 lead.
“[Voth] dropped it into the zones where we wanted her to serve. And Sarah hits a heavy ball. Her spike serve is one of the best in the country. When she gets rolling it’s hard to pass,” said Bentley.
The Bisons would close out the set quickly, 25-11. Then, with the Cougars fading, the Bisons finished the match by taking the fourth set by a comfortable 25-13 margin, to win by a 3-1 score.
The Bisons began the second game apprehensively, ultimately dropping the first set by a 25-18 margin.
“We didn’t play poorly, they just beat us in the first set. We didn’t change much, and I thought we stayed really strong,” Bentley told Bison Sports.
The Bisons regained their positive form in the next frame. Lead by the defence of Erin Nieuwenburg, who blocked two Cougar spike attempts in the period, the Bisons won the set 25-20.
The Bisons rode their momentum to another victory as they began to pull away from the Cougars in the final two sets. Lead by Sarah Morrissette’s four kills, the Bisons took a tight third set 25-23. They then won the match by a parallel 3-1 margin, comfortably taking the final set 25-13.
The Bisons (2-0) will next face their cross-town rivals, the University of Winnipeg Wesman, at home on Nov. 2 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. The game begins at 6 p.m.
The Cougars (0-2) hit the road again to face the University of Alberta Golden Bears on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.
***
Next door, at Max Bell Arena, the men’s hockey team looked to snap their two-game losing streak, as they faced the third-ranked Alberta Golden Bears in a two-game home weekend series.
In the first game of the series, the Bisons netted the first goal on the power play when Bison Travis Kornelsen hustled to be the first to a Nick Cowan dump-in and then passed the puck to Riley Dudar who deposited the it into the back of a gaping net.
Special teams would prove to be vital for the Bisons.
“We won the power play, and we won the penalty kill . . . those are areas we needed to be better than Alberta,” said coach Don MacGillivray.
Goals from Kornelsen and Golden Bears forward Eric Hunter put the score at 2-1 for the Bisons at the first intermission.
The Bisons’ next two goals were also scored on the power play. One came courtesy of Mike Hellyer. The other was deposited by the Bisons best player of the game, Kornelsen, who, while streaking down the ice, was able to chip a Stephane Lenoski shot past Sorochan.
Coach MacGillivray was sure to give credit to the whole line. “The line of Kornelsen, Cowan, and Dudar was real good for us tonight. They got us going on the power play. They did a lot of good things for us tonight.”
Although the Golden Bears made it close with goals from Derek Ryan and Brian Woolger, the Bisons proved to be too good on the night. An empty-net goal by Hellyer ultimately put the game out of reach, giving the home team a well-deserved 5-3 victory.
The second game was a different story as the Golden Bears defeated the Bisons 7-4 to steal a road victory.
The opening two periods were a tight affair with the teams deadlocked at 4-4 heading into the third period. Scoring for the Golden Bears were Hunter, Ryan, Tim Krymusa, and Jesse Gimblett.
Chris Falloon, Lenoski, Rick Wood, and Nolan Waker were the Bisons goal-scorers.
The turning point came early in the third period with the Golden Bears scoring two quick goals on special teams.
Almost five minutes into the third period, Hunter, shorthanded, streaked into the Bisons’ zone and, after a beautiful give-and-go with Ian McDonald, slid the puck past a sliding Bisons goalie, Krister Toews to score his second goal of the game.
Less than four minutes later it was the Golden Bears power play that sealed the victory. Brian Woogler, standing to the right of the net, backhanded a shot passed Toews to put Alberta ahead 6-4.
Krymusa would score his second goal of the game on a breakaway to round out the scoring.
The Bisons (3-3-0) will next hit the road to take on the UBC Thunderbirds. Alberta (5-2-1) will remain on the road to play the University of Regina Cougars.
