Written by: Matt Gutsch, Sports Information Coordinator, University of Alberta

EDMONTON - First year forward Alana Cabana scored a pair of goals to lead the University of Alberta Pandas hockey team past the Manitoba Bisons, 5-2 Saturday night on Clare Drake Arena ice.

The win gives the No. 2-ranked and defending CIS champion Pandas a sweep of the No. 4-ranked Bisons at perhaps the most critical time. The two teams met in early November in Manitoba where the Bisons skated to a 3-2 win during game one. Howie Draper's Panda team responded with a 2-0 win the next night and coupled with the sweep this weekend, means that Alberta owns the season series, three games to one. Both Alberta and Manitoba came into the weekend with identical 15-2-0-1 records and as the clear leaders in the Canada West. A sweep by either team would likely mean first place in the Conference and home ice throughout the Canada West playoffs as well as a first round bye. With just four games remaining in the season the Pandas will likely hold onto their first place sitting with a 17-2-0-1 record and will almost certainly face the Bisons again in the post-season.

Unlike Friday's night game, a 3-2 shootout win where Alberta out-shot the Bisons 35-11 and the teams combined for four powerplay goals (two each), the Saturday night edition featured a looser game that focused more on quality, rather than quantity.

The Pandas still out-shot the visitors, 28-16, but this time buried their chances behind Bisons' goalie Stacey Corfield, who had an answer for much of the Panda attack last night and through seven rounds of the shoot-out.

Cabana got the home team on the board first, depositing a loose puck past Corfield during a frenzied scramble at the 9:17 mark of the first, a lead that would stand through the opening stanza.

Mia Mucci and Canada West scoring leader Jen Newton padded the Alberta lead in the second period, scoring at the 5:23 and 8:44 marks of the second.

Meghan Ross, who scored last night for Manitoba, notched an extra attacker tally in the third, but Laura Salomons, with an assist from Cabana, would strike back for Alberta on the powerplay minutes later, to restore the three goal lead.

Ross added another power-play goal, giving her three goals in two games and 10 on the season, with just over seven minutes to go.

With Corfield on the bench and Cabana in the box, Manitoba pushed hard for the comeback, literally hemming Alberta in their own end for close to three minutes. Cabana stepped out and picked up the first puck to squirt past the Panda blue-line since she stepped into the box at 17:44 and walked it into the empty net for a three point night and a 5-2 Alberta win.

Draper and the Pandas will take next weekend off with a bye and then return to action when they travel to UBC, February 1-2. The Bisons will also have next weekend off, with their next action coming from the University of Lethbridge. The Herd will remain on the road to face the Pronghorns.