The Bisons women’s hockey team hit back from last week’s tough losses with a thrilling game one win Friday night against the Trinity Western University Spartans.
The weekend clincher was on the Spartans’ home ice. Friday’s game had a slow start, with no penalties or power plays until the height of the game in period three. The entire game consisted of evenly matched opponents with mostly clean plays.
Neither the herd nor the Spartans scored during the first period, keeping play pretty tame early on.
The game picked up when Kylie Lesuk scored 2:40 into the second period, putting up the first and only point for the Bisons in the game.
The Bisons continued to play nicely until the third period when Dana Goertzen received a minor penalty for tripping.
The game ended in a 1-0 shutout win for the herd, with goalie Meagan Relf stopping all 25 shots on net.
The series continued on Saturday, with neither team scoring in the first period once again. However, the Spartans soon capitalized on the Bisons’ fatigue, with Spartan Brooklyn Anderson scoring on the breakaway five and a half minutes into the second period.
The Spartans took advantage of the Bisons’ disarray, scoring two more times in the second frame. The Bisons women continued to struggle as the game wore on, and were ultimately shut out by Trinity Western 3-0, finishing the weekend series 1-1.
The Bisons men’s hockey team started off its series against Trinity Western on home ice Thursday night.
The team looked like it was trying to catch up from puck drop, and the Spartans took advantage of that from the very start.
The Spartans scored two times within the first three minutes of Thursday night’s game, setting a precedent for what was to come.
Trinity Western scored for a third time during the first period, taking a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
The second period slid by without either team scoring, the Spartans taking their three-goal lead into the final frame.
The third period was rough, with the Bisons fighting for a goal to put them on the board.
The herd kicked into high gear, scoring for the first time courtesy of captain Jonny Hooker nearly 13 minutes into the third period.
The Bisons scored a second time with a power-play goal by Hayden Ostir in a last-ditch effort. Despite the herd making a major comeback in the third, they would fall short by a goal, narrowly losing 3-2.
Friday’s game started with a Spartans goal that was quickly answered by Bison Dylan Thiessen, who scored on a power play in the first period.
However, the Spartans found the net yet again, taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Trinity Western put another goal up on the herd in the second before the Bisons’ captain netted his second goal of the weekend.
The Spartans continued to score throughout the third frame, winning 5-2 and sweeping the herd in the two-game series.
The women’s team will host the University of Regina Cougars Nov. 9 and 10 and the University of Calgary Dinos Nov. 17 and 18 at Wayne Fleming Arena, while the men’s team will be hosted by the Cougars Nov. 10 and 11 and the Dinos Nov. 17 and 18.
