The University of Manitoba women’s hockey team kicked off its weekend series against the University of Calgary Dinos with a hard loss on the road Friday night. Calgary scored the first goal of the game halfway through the first period. The U of M continued to struggle in the first frame and the Dinos took a 2-0 lead over the herd into the first intermission.
Calgary, using its momentum, scored a third goal in the second, pulling away from the Bisons.
However, the herd managed to get on the board shortly afterwards on a loose puck in the high slot courtesy of Jena Barscello, which cut the Dinos’ lead to two.
The Bisons went into the third trying to make a comeback. Ashley Keller scored early in the frame for the herd, just squeezing the goal in through a leg on the post.
Calgary later hit back, scoring its fourth goal on a power play and defeating the herd 4-2.
In Saturday’s game, the Bisons were finally able to snap their seven-game losing skid in what was a very close match.
The first period yielded no goals for either team, the two sides equally matched.
However, the second period picked up a bit with Kylie Lesuk scoring on a backhand shot against Calgary late in the frame. This gave Manitoba the lead for the first time in the series, and the herd took the 1-0 lead into second intermission. The third period was a defensive clinic for the U of M, who fended off the Dinos’ efforts for a 1-0 shutout victory on Emily Shippam’s 26 saves in net.
On home ice, the University of Manitoba men’s hockey team played a difficult weekend against the Dinos. The first period of Friday’s match was slow, both teams deadlocked at 0 heading into their locker rooms for the intermission. Early in the second frame, the herd’s Riley Zimmerman managed to put a goal past Calgary’s strong defensive line.
However, shortly after the Bisons’ goal, Calgary scored twice, taking a 2-1 lead into second intermission. The third period is when the Dinos took over the game. Calgary was in control in the third, scoring its third goal of the game early in the final frame. The Dinos went up 4-1 later in the period, and put the final nail in the coffin with an empty netter near the end of game, beating the herd 5-1.
Unfortunately, the Bisons fared no better during Saturday’s game. Calgary started off the first period full of energy in its skating.
The Dinos opened scoring on an early power play, then scored two more times in the frame to cap off the first period up 3-0. After going down 4-0 on a Dinos’ power play early in the second the Bisons looked more promising, getting on the board with a Parker Malchuk power-play goal and managing to fend off two more Calgary power plays.
With Calgary taking a 4-1 lead into the second intermission, the Bisons could not mount a comeback in the third. The Dinos scored the only goal of the third frame and swept the U of M with the exact same 5-1 score as Friday’s match.
The women’s hockey team hosts the Trinity Western University Spartans Jan. 26 and 27, while the men’s team is on the road in Langley, B.C. to take on the Spartans.
