Cougars feast on passionless Bisons
Two home losses end five-game unbeaten streak
Sheri Lamb, Staff
Photo by Chris Lam.
A lacklustre performance on the ice last weekend showed the Bison women still have work to do if they want to compete with the top teams in the Canada West Conference.
In the second game of the weekend, the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) third-ranked Bisons met up with the eighth-ranked U of R Cougars in women’s hockey at the Max Bell Arena on Saturday, Nov. 12, with the visitors skating to a 3-0 win, taking three of four points on the weekend.
Jon Rempel, coach of the Bison women’s team, was unimpressed with the team’s effort all weekend, calling the two games the worst of the season.
“We did not play well tonight,” said Rempel. “We had no passion, no intensity and no fire.”
The Cougars scored two quick goals midway through the second, which frazzled the Bisons, and they were unable to regain composure.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Regina, they played okay, they didn’t do anything special, but we didn’t match their intensity and we lost the game,” said Rempel.
The loss leaves the Bisons at 4-2-2 on the season with 10 points and tied for second with the Cougars in the Canada West standings.
The Cougars struck at 6:47 of the second, when the Bisons were unable to clear the puck and fourth-year Elysia Cobbledick beat Bison rookie goaltender Stacy Corfield with a harmless looking wrist shot for a 1-0 lead.
Shortly after, the Bisons were in penalty trouble and the Cougars scored on the two-man advantage, making it 2-0, when second-year Megan Witbeck’s shot found the inside post at 10:25.
The quick goals deflated the Bisons, who looked uninspired for the remainder of the period, failing to get a shot on goal when they had a power play chance.
“We’re not used to playing from behind, because in most games this year we’ve been ahead and it shows we’ve got a lot of work to do as a group in terms of learning how to deal with adversity.”
The Bisons came out firing in the third, but Cougar goaltender Jackie Simonot held them off.
Cobbledick potted her second of the game at 8:48 of the third on the power play to give the Cougars a 3-0 advantage. Cobbledick had three goals in the two game series.
Cougar assistant coach Brandy West-McMaster, filling in for coach Sarah Howald who spent the weekend with the under 18 club, was happy with her team’s effort on the road.
“I thought we had a very solid weekend right through, we played very aggressively and we got lots of pucks to the net, and so we’re pretty happy with it,” said West-McMaster.
On Friday night, the teams played to a 2-2 Overtime tie when the Bisons blew a two-goal lead late in the third period. Leanne Kisil had a goal and an assist Friday, increasing her season totals to 11 points (6g, 5a).
The Bisons opened the scoring at 13:06 of the first on the power play when Kisil beat Simonot. They took a 2-0 lead early in the third when sophomore Sarah Stebeleski took a nice pass from Kisil and went in alone on Simonot.
Corfield stopped 34 Cougar shots as the Bisons were outshot 36-25.
Next Up: The Bisons are off this weekend as they prepare to face off with the University of Alberta Pandas in Edmonton November 25 & 26.
