Rough road trips for Bison teams; football, soccer and men’s hockey teams all lose

It was a forgettable trip for Bison teams this weekend, as the football, soccer, and men’s hockey team went winless through the five combined games played this weekend.

In the football game, the Bisons were unable to put away Marc Mueller and the Regina Rams, as the fifth-year quarterback put together a 95-yard drive in the final two minutes. Mueller found Connor Haas for the game winning score on a 23-yard passing play that put the Rams up 30-27 with 20 seconds left to play.

This came after Cam Clark and the Bison offence stormed back from a 23-13 deficit. Clark threw touchdown passes to Anthony Coombs and Brendon Bowman, both in the span of two minutes, which gave Manitoba their first lead of the game with 2:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The loss drops the Bisons to third in the Canada West standings with a 3-2 record.

With three games remaining on the schedule, the Bisons head into the conference bye with a playoff spot in their sights. Their next game will come on the road on Oct. 12 against the 2-3 Saskatchewan Huskies.

The Bison men’s hockey team got off to a rough start on the road against the U of Alberta Golden Bears. In their first of two games on Sept. 28, the Bisons gave up the first of four Alberta goals 1:27 into the first period. Dane Crowley scored the first goal of the Bisons season on the power play late in the first, but the team found themselves down 3-1 through most of the game.

Blair Macaulay—the reigning Canada West MVP—scored a shorthanded goal midway through the third while the Bisons were down two skaters that made the score 3-2, but that was as close as the Bisons would get. Alberta scored an empty netter that made the final score 4-2 for the home side.

The following day, the Bisons got off to a better start but ended up on the wrong side of a 7-2 blowout. Travis Bobbee and Luke Cain scored goals just over a minute apart from each other late in the first period that gave the Bisons 2-1 lead.

The lead quickly evaporated, as the Bears scored 1:14 into the second period, and never looked back.

Manitoba is on the conference bye next weekend, returning to conference play on Oct 12-13 when they host the Saskatchewan Huskies for their first home games of the 2012-13 season.

The Bison soccer team continued their disappointing slide this past weekend, losing back-to-back games against the U of Fraser Valley and the U of Victoria.

In their game on Friday, the Fraser Valley Cascades cruised past the Bisons in a 2-0 victory, as Manitoba was held off the score sheet for the fifth straight game. Allison Kastner had two shots on goal for the Bisons, but was unable to find the back of the net.

The following day, the Bisons finally managed to tally a goal as Sarah Haiko found the twine for the first time since Manitoba dominated UNBC 11-0 three weeks ago. Technically, the Bisons scored two goals on the day – only problem is the other was an own goal.

The Bisons dropped the game 5-1, and fall to 2-6 on the season. The Bisons will have to regroup while on the conference bye this weekend before hosting Lethbridge in a pair of games on Oct. 12-13.