January 4 - Ian McDonald (Edmonton, 2nd) scored a hat-trick to pace the #2 ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears (12-2-1 Canada West, 18-4-2 overall) to an 8-1 victory over the visiting Manitoba Bisons (9-7-1 overall, 14-15 overall) Friday night in Edmonton.

Harlan Anderson (Vernon, B.C., 5th) scored twice for the Golden Bears, while Richard Hamula (Edmonton, 5th), Dylan Stanley (Edmonton, 3rd) and Jessie Gimblett (Newtonville, ON, 2nd) added singles as the Bears won their 10th consecutive game.

Chris Falloon (Souris, MB, 4th) broke Aaron Sorochan’s (Edmonton, 3rd) shut-out bid in the final minute to score the Bisons lone goal on the night, as #9 ranked Manitoba’s struggles in Edmonton continued. The Bisons have not won at Clare Drake Arena since Oct. 14th, 1995, as Alberta ran their home undefeated streak against Manitoba to 28 games (27-0-1).

Alberta struck quickly and often in the first period scoring three goals in a span of 2:51 less than 10 minutes in. McDonald scored his first of the night sifting a shot from the right of the goal past Bisons netminder Krister Toews (Kleefeld, MB, 4th) to give Alberta a 1-0 lead 6:09 in. Just over two minutes some strong work down low in the Bisons zone resulted in Hamula’s goal to give Alberta a 2-0 lead at 8:17. Then Alberta capitalized on a Bisons giveaway as 2006-07 Conference All-Star Dylan Stanley made it a 3-0 game at the nine-minute mark. The Bears carried the 3-0 lead into the first intermission and had a 14-3 shots advantage.

McDonald continued the Bears onslaught in the second as he picked up a loose puck on a Bisons turnover and then roofed a backhand over Toews to give Alberta a 4-0 lead at 5:20 of the second. Then 2006-07 All-Canadian Ben Kilgour (Leduc, AB, 4th) set up a pair of beauties. First he found Anderson who had activated from his defence position and the Bears captain rifled a shot home to make it 5-0 at 10:29. Then Kilgour weaved up the middle and sprung Gimblett for a break off the right wing. Toews stopped Gimblett’s initial shot, but the rebound hit the hulking forward and bounced past the netminder to give Alberta a 6-0 lead. The Bears led 6-0 after two and were every bit as dominating on the shot clock as well carrying a 26-7 advantage into the third.

Just three minutes into the third Anderson scored his second of the night on a nice set-up from freshman Derek Ryan (Spokane, WASH) to make it 7-0. Anderson’s goal was his 16th of the season in just 22 games. McDonald completed his hat-trick banking a shot off of Bisons netminder Steve Christie (Winnipeg, MB, 2nd) who had replaced Toews, making it 8-0 Alberta at 11:37 of the third. Falloon broke up Sorocahn’s shut-out bid with just 59 second left in the third, capitalizing on a Bears turnover and blasting a shot off of the cross bar and in.

Alberta outshot the Bisons 34-20 on the night and were 0-for-1 on the powerplay, while the Bisons were 0-for-2.

Complete statistics...