Scrappy Bisons earn split with national champs
Solid goaltending highlight of Saturday night rematch between Bisons, Bears
Sheri Lamb, Staff
Photo by Doug Engstrom.
After a tough loss Friday night the U of M Bisons rebounded on Saturday with a 2-1 win over the nation’s top men’s hockey team, the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
The split of their games with the Golden Bears on October 28 and 29 at the Max Bell Arena leaves the Bisons with a 2-5-1 record for the season, while the Bears are now 4-2. Over 1,400 fans took in the action over the weekend.
With the Bisons bitten by the injury bug this season, including having to play without co-captain Paul Deniset, head coach Mike Sirant was breathing a sigh of relief after emerging victorious Saturday.
“This was a huge, huge win for us,” said Sirant. “We struggled at the start of the season, and coming into this weekend we thought what a better way to turn it around than to beat the top team in the country.”
With Friday’s game behind them the Bisons proved they could skate stride for stride with the Golden Bears in the first period of the second game. When the buzzer sounded the Bisons left the ice with a 1-0 advantage, thanks to second-year right-winger Chris Falloon’s power play marker at 13:14.
The Bisons were all over the Bears early in the second period and were finally rewarded when second-year centre Lee Stubbs batted the puck past Bears rookie goaltender Blake Grenier for a 2-0 lead.
Less than four minutes later the Bears would get a goal when second-year Richard Kelly beat the Bisons’ second-year goalie Krister Toews. But, Toews shut the Bears down the rest of the way, making several big saves in the final period to preserve the win.
“(Toews) showed tonight why he’s one of the top goaltenders in the conference, and we need him to play like that every game,” said Sirant.
Toews made 32 saves in earning his second win of the year, while Grenier helped keep the Bears in the game during the second period, when they didn’t get their first shot on net until 10:26. Grenier made 29 saves in a losing effort.
Second-year right-winger Aaron Starr had two assists for the Bisons on Saturday.
On Friday, the game was tied up at 2-2 starting the third, when the Bisons thought they had scored the go-ahead goal. But, the goal was disallowed. Shortly after, the Bears’ fourth-year left-winger Scott Henkelman beat Toews for his second of the game, putting the Bears up 3-2.
“I thought we had an opportunity to win both games this weekend; [Friday] night we played very, very well,” said Sirant. “We had a great effort from everyone, executed our game plan and we were very unfortunate to lose.”
Henkelman appeared to have suffered a knee injury late in Saturday’s game after a collision with a Bison player and had to be helped off the ice.
Next: The Bisons hope to build on their momentum November 4 and 5 when the 3-2 University of Calgary Dinos visit the Max Bell Arena. Game time both nights is 7:05 p.m.
