by Ezra Ginsburg
February 9- The #5-ranked University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team was unable to capitalize on a multitude of power play opportunities, losing to the #7-ranked University of Regina Cougars 4-2 on Saturday night at Max Bell Arena.
The Bisons (18-4-2) led in many of the statistical categories but it was Regina (12-10-2) who had the advantage in the most important one, the box score. The Cougars scored two goals only minutes apart in the second period which stood up as they earned a weekend split with the hometown Bisons.
“We obviously didn’t score on a lot of our power play chances but I wasn’t necessarily unhappy with our effort,” said Bisons head coach Jon Rempel. “We had enough shots, but just didn’t get the results.”
Regina opened the scoring early in the first period on a power play goal by 4th year forward Kara McGeough. Defenceman Arielle Schade dumped the puck in around the boards and it took a funny bounce right in front of the Bisons net for an easy tap-in. The Bisons evened the game at the nine minute mark as Meghan Ross buried a beautiful feed from Leanne Kisil on the power play for her 14th goal of the season. Amanda Schnell put the Bisons up by one on a two-man advantage, taking a Addie Miles pass and moving in to finesse a wrist shot past Cougars goaltender Alyssa MacDougall.
The Bisons maintained a strong offensive attack in the second period, as first-year forward Addie Miles nearly put the home side up by two early when she was set up beautifully by Chantal Larocque on a two-on-one odd man rush. Unfortunately, the scoring chance was thwarted by a well-positioned MacDougall. Although Manitoba controlled most of the period, it was the Cougars who ended up having a more lucrative time. Kara McGeough tapped in a loose puck in front of the Bisons net, to tie the game up at two apiece. Forward Karissa Swan put Regina up by a goal less than three minutes later as she broke away from the tight checking Bisons defence to put a top corner shot past Manitoba goaltender Stacey Corfield.
The Bisons came out with a lot of energy to start the final period but were unable to find the back of the net when they needed it most. Manitoba’s best chance came early in third period on a two-man advantage when Leanne Kisil took a Chantal Larocque feed and drove hard to the net. Julie Paetsch added an empty-net goal to seal the victory for the Cougars.
The Bisons honoured three fifth-year athletes before the game. Sisters Dana Hoogsteen and Shannon Hoogsteen, together with Stephanie Messner were recognized for their many years of service to the team in a classy pre-game ceremony.
Saturday’s game closed out the 2007’08 conference regular season for both Manitoba and Regina. The Bisons will host the University of Saskatchewan Huskies next weekend in the first round of the Canada West Semi-Finals. Game 1 is scheduled for Friday, February 15 at 7:00 pm. at Max Bell Arena while Game 2 is set for Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Game 3 of the series will be played on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. if necessary.
“We’re excited to have home-ice for next week,” said Rempel. “It’s going to be a tough battle. Saskatchewan is one of the most improved teams in the league.”
The Regina Cougars will play the two-time defending CIS Champions University of Alberta Pandas on the road in the other semi-final series beginning next weekend in Alberta.
The Bisons established new team records this season with 38 points (old record was 30 points set last season) and 18 wins (old record was 15 wins set last season).
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