Basketball
The Bison men’s and women’s basketball teams were both on the road over the weekend, playing the Fraser Valley Cascades in back-to-back games October 29-30.
The Bison women’s team continued to struggle early in the season, as they dropped both games to the Cascades and are winless through their first three games of the season. In the first game of the two-game series, the Bisons fell behind 15 points going into half time and weren’t able to mount a come back in the second, losing 72-58. The next day, it was more of the same as Manitoba lost by a score of 72-44.
For the men’s team, both weekend games were extremely close, with both teams having a chance to win late in the fourth quarter. In Friday’s game, the Bisons seemed to falter early, getting outscored by the Cascades 16 points in the first quarter. Manitoba would fight back to take the lead going into the fourth quarter, 58-56. The lead changed hands several times in the final quarter until Bison Forward Richard Reimer, who lead the Bisons in scoring with 22 points, sunk a two-point basket with 10 seconds to go in the game to put the Bisons up by one. Time ran out with the Cascades unable to respond in the dying moments of the game, as the Bison’s squeaked out a 72-71 victory to go 2-0 on the season.
The next day the two teams would meet again and play another exciting game that would also come down to dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Evenly matched, the two teams battled for the lead throughout the first three quarters. Heading into the final quarter, the score was tied 62-62. Early in the fourth, the teams exchanged the lead three times, before the Bisons managed to score seven unanswered points, giving Manitoba a ten-point lead with five minutes left in the game. While the Cascades would push back, getting to within a point of tying the game, it wouldn’t be enough as the Bisons held on for an 83-80 victory.
The Bison men and women’s basketball teams will travel to Victoria to play their next games against the University of Victoria Vikes on November 5-6.
Football
On Oct. 30 the football team finished off their 2010 CIS season at home against the UBC Thunderbirds. Even though the game didn’t mean much in the standings, the Bisons still played their hearts out and won 35-25, improving their final season record to 2-6.
Hockey
The Bison men’s and women’s hockey teams both played back-to-back games against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns on October 29-30. The men’s team played visitor to hosting Lethbridge, while the women’s team hosted the Pronghorns at the Max Bell Arena.
The number five ranked Bison women’s team had no problem handling the unranked Pronghorns, shutting them out in both games. On Friday, Manitoba rolled to the largest shutout win in Bison women’s hockey history with an 8-0 victory. The next day, the Bison team picked up where they left off the night before, with an equally impressive 5-0 shutout.
Playing on the road, the men’s team was not as dominant as their female counterparts. The Pronghorns got their first win of the season Friday night, as they easily took the first game 8-4. There was plenty of rough play throughout the game, as 84 combined penalty minutes were dished out from the referees.
Fortunately, the Bisons were able to bounce back the next day, as they came on strong late in the third period to win the game 5-2, splitting the series at two games apiece. Manitoba goalie Steve Christie made 35 saves in the win and was awarded first star of the game.
The men’s and women’s hockey teams both play the University of Regina Cougars on November 5-6, with the men playing at home and the women travelling to Regina.
Soccer
With two games against the University of Regina Cougars remaining on the schedule, the women’s soccer team was hoping to end the season on a high note, but instead lost both games by a score of 1-0.
With the losses, the Bisons finish the season ninth place in the Canada West conference standings, holding a record of 1-9-4.
Volleyball
Last week Bison Sports announced the men’s and women’s volleyball captains for the 2010-11 season.
The women’s team announced that Ashley Voth and Amy Toews, both in their fifth and final season with the Bisons, would be co-captains. On the men’s team three co-captains were selected: Chris Voth, Ryan Munt and Konrad Korkowski.
Both teams played their first game of the season Oct. 30 against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen at the U of W’s Duckworth Centre. The women’s team, who were ranked number one in the Canada West conference and number two in the country, opened their season with an impressive 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-17) win against the Wesmen. Later that day, the men took the court and won their match 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-19).
