Bisons lose 4-2 to Calgary

Penalties the major factor in the result

Photo by Shawn Coates

The Calgary Dinos put a halt to Manitoba’s two-game win streak in their women’s hockey rematch, as the visitors suffered a 4-2 loss.

Coach Jon Rempel opted to revert back to starter Rachel Dyck in net on Saturday, despite Amanda Schubert’s convincing back-to-back wins.

The Dinos got off to the perfect start after Sasha Vafina opened the scoring with her 13th goal of the season on the powerplay. The home side extended their lead to 2-0 on another powerplay toward the end of the first period. Captain Stephanie Zvonkovic’s shot from the blue-line beat Dyck for her second point of the frame.

Further penalty trouble from the Bisons in the second period gave Calgary the opportunity to kill the game early. Just as Alana Serhan’s penalty was about to expire, the Dinos jumped out a 3-0 lead. Megan Grenon found the back of the net to score Calgary’s third powerplay goal of the game.

However, the Dinos advantage became their achilles heel when Vafina took a tripping minor midway through the game. Kaleigh Weins scored on the ensuing powerplay to cut the lead to 3-1.

The Dinos restored their three-goal lead less than minute later. On a delayed penalty, Kate Lumley managed to tip Iya Gavrilova’s pass from the corner boards for the 4-1 advantage.

Erica Rieder scored just before the end of the second period to cut the lead to 4-2, recording her fourth point of the weekend.

In the end, the Bisons would drop the contest 4-2 after a scoreless third period. Although Manitoba will be lamenting their lack of discipline on Saturday, the weekend still ended on a high note for Rieder. The blue-liner had a point on all four goals scored by the Bisons in the series.

The Bisons will return home next week to host the University of British Columbia in the final weekend of the CIS regular season on Friday Feb. 12 and Saturday Feb. 13, respectively.