Weekend Preview

University of Manitoba Bison Sports

Press Release

October 4 , 2001

It may be Thanksgiving this weekend, but it is definitely not a holiday for Bison Sports as six different teams will see action.

The home action focuses on three women's sports, headlined by the women's volleyball team that is co-hosting the Coast to Coast to Classic with the U of W and the women's field hockey team that is hosting Canada West Tournament #2 at Kildonan East Collegiate. Rounding out the home games this weekend will be the women's hockey who play host to the Bemidji State Beavers in a pair of non-conference games.

Women's Volleyball-Coast to Coast Classic
The women's volleyball team is co-hosting the second annual Coast-to-Coast classic that features 16 teams in total. Half of the games will be played at the IGAC and half at the U of Winnipeg's Duckworth Centre with the semi-final and final slated for Sunday at Winnipeg. Manitoba and Winnipeg will trade off hosting the finals every other year starting this year. The Bisons are coming off of a disappointing 5-set loss in the finals of the U of R Cougar Invitational to the Saskatchewan Huskies last weekend, but the action in Regina was the team's first of the year and although the result was not perfect the squad played fairly well. This weekend will also feature some tough competition with perennial powers such as Laval, UBC, Toronto and Calgary in attendance, all teams that were here at Manitoba for the CIS Championships last March. Jen Dowdall and Kathy Preston (Hrehirchuk) have picked up right where they left off last year at the Championships. Both were named tournament All-Stars last weekend in Regina and will be expected to be the leaders both on and off the court of this young but extremely talented team.

Women's Field Hockey-Host Canada West Tournament #2
At Kildonan East this weekend, the Manitoba Bison Field Hockey Team will be looking to continue building on their good play from two weeks ago in tournament #1 hosted by the Calgary Dinosaurs. In that tourney, Manitoba played its first game against eventual tournament winners, the UBC Thunderbirds. The Herd played the T-Birds tough throughout the match and except for a two-minute span about halfway through the game in which the T-Birds scored two quick goals, the game was a close contest. Manitoba also surrendered a late goal in the 56th minute to lose 3-0.

In Manitoba's second match of the tourney on Saturday against the host Dinos, the Herd once again started off strong, playing Calgary even until the 32nd minute. The Dinos scored two goals in the second half to seal the win over a determined Manitoba side.

Manitoba's best game of the tournament came against the Alberta Pandas on Saturday night as the two sides battled back and forth for 59 minutes until Alberta's Andrea Johnson broke the scoreless tie and the Pandas held on for the win.

Manitoba finished up the tournament on Sunday by falling 4-0 to the then #1 ranked Victoria Vikes. The Bisons who play in the toughest conference in the CIS are led by a new Head Coach this year, native South African, Gene Muller. Muller has an impressive resume both as a player and as a coach having played at a high level in South Africa and then going on to coach the South African National women's team to a berth in the Sydney Olympics. His experience and knowledge will without a doubt be a great benefit to the women's field hockey program here in Manitoba. Immediately after the Bisons' season is over, Muller will head to Vancouver for the balance of the winter to head the men's National team.

Muller has a good mix of veteran experience and youth to work with in his first year at the helm. Manitoba's line-up features four- fifth year players including Erin Macleod and Leanne Pekrul on defence, Kristen Asmundson at midfield and Megan Barritt-Flatt at sweeper. Barritt-Flatt actually coached the team last year, but decided to put her coaching aspirations on hold and return for her fifth and final year of eligibility.

The Herd also has one of the finest goalkeepers in the conference in Diana Jokic. The 3rd year keeper who is enrolled in Nursing at the U of M, was a second team Canada West All-Star in 2000 based on her outstanding play last season. She continued that fine play two weeks ago and will be expected to provide more of the same solid goaltending this weekend.

First year players include Christine de Pape who comes to the team from the Alberta under 21 team; Krysta Ratushniak and Kim Owen from the Manitoba Provincial team; Andrea Bunnik from the Waalwijk Ladies 4 team in Portage la Prairie; Lindsay Lemanski, and Tamara Gordon who has joined coach Muller from South Africa. Competition in Canada West is always fierce and intense and this weekend should be no different.

Women's Hockey-Host BSU in Non-Conference Action
The women's hockey team will host an American team for the second weekend in a row this Friday and Saturday night as the Bemidji State University Beavers come to town for a pair of non-conference games at Max Bell Centre. The Herd lost two of three to Shattuck St.Mary's last weekend and will be looking to better those results this weekend. The Bisons and Beavers also met for a match last year on Thanksgiving weekend with BSU winning a tight game 4-3 in overtime. For the Herd, Katherine van Deynze is off to a hot start scoring three goals in 3 games last weekend, and Nancy Macdonald also played extremely well, notching five points in the three game set.

Men's Hockey-Final Tune-up for Regular Season this Weekend
The men's hockey team will be in Omaha, Nebraksa this Friday night to take on the UNO Mavericks in a final non-conference tune-up game before the start of the regular season that begins next weekend. The Herd currently sports a 2-3 record in five games during the pre-season, a mark that includes a 4-1 loss to the UND Fighting Sioux last weekend in Grand Forks, ND. The Bisons and Mavericks hooked up last year in Omaha as well with the Mavericks coming out on top 6-1.

Cross Country-U of Saskatchewan Open
The Cross-Country Team heads to Saskatoon this weekend to compete in the U of S Open meet that features many of the top schools in Canada West and various NCAA schools. The 6th ranked women's team has gotten off to a great start this year with excellent showings in the past two meets at UND and Minneapolis.

According to Head Coach Claude Berube, the team is very close to challenging for the CIS Championships that will be held in Sherbrooke, PQ in early November.

Darolyn Trembath and Jen Ervick are both having outstanding years with Trembath recording a third and a fifth place finish in her first tow races and Ervick running to a second and a seventh place finish.

The men's team has had a slower start and will be looking for a better performance this weekend in Saskatoon in order to get themselves into position to challenge at the CIS Championships. The men's team is led by Mike Booth who has a ninth place finish at the UND Invitational to his credit.

Football-Bisons Spend Bye-Week Preparing for First place Showdown
The Bison Football team is off this weekend and the bye week could not have come at a better time for the Herd as the injury bug has started to creep into the Herd's line-up. While the Herd has been fortunate to not have any major injuries through the first five games of the season, there are several nagging injuries that need an extra week of rest in order to heal.

Quarterback Shane Munson tweaked his hamstring last weekend in UBC, but the injury is not expected to keep Munson out of next weekend's big game with the Rams. Nose Tackle Rob Stewart will also benefit from the extra rest. Stewart who bolted out of the gates this season with three sacks in the first two games has been hobbled by an ankle injury, but the extra week of rest is expected to get him close to healthy.

The Herd will practice today and tomorrow at 5:00 PM take Saturday and Sunday off and then get back at things Monday in preparation for the battle versus the Regina Rams next Saturday afternoon.