October 7 - In front of a near sellout Ralph Engelstad Arena crowd of 11,007, the Manitoba Bisons played their third game in three days and faced the #1 ranked University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux on Sunday, October 7 in Grand Forks. The score was 9-3 for North Dakota in exhibition action.

Bison men’s hockey head coach Don MacGillivray said, “UND is a great team and were hungry for goals tonight. We were flat-footed and our goalie played well in the first but it was our third game in three nights. Regardless, I will take the weekend (two road wins over Regina) and we worked hard in the third. We did some good things that we could use for the future.”

In the game, the Bisons held a 2-1 lead after one. The Sioux scored four unanswered goals in the second before leading 6-3 after 40 minutes and then scored three more goals in the final period.

In the first, both teams started out slow until Chris Falloon lulled the Sioux defense to sleep with a stop and quick snap short from the left hand side that caught the North Dakota J. P. Lamoureux netminder napping with a quick shot between the legs. Riley Dudar and Stephane Lenoski had the assists. After eight minutes of play, the shots were eight to one for the hosts with Bisons’ goalie Steve Christie standing on his head with several close-in chances. At 10:49 gone in the game, the adage “shoot at the net and good things will happen” came true. Mark Olafson streaked down the right side and fired a shot from behind the net that an unsuspected Lamoureux missed played and deflected into his own net. At that moment, the Bisons led 2-0 and the shots were in North Dakota’s favour by a wide 13-2 margin.

Still in the first, the Sioux kept the pressure and captain Rylan Kaip found the back of the net by sliding the puck under Christie’s pads at 12:40 mark. There was no more scoring and after one period, the Bisons led 2-1 despite being outshot 20-2 after 20 minutes.

In the second period, Manitoba had a tough start, giving up three goals in the span of 49 seconds.

With the Bisons Mark Olafson in the penalty box, North Dakota tied the game 4:50 into the second. T.J. Oshie cut across the front the Bison net, dropping a pass for Ryan Duncan who one-timed it past a sliding Christie. Only 15 seconds later, Kaip ripped a shot from the point, that avoided the crowd in front of Christie, and into the back of the net. That gave the Sioux their first lead at 5:05 of the second.

Then off the ensuing face off from centre ice, Chris Vande Velde won the draw and broke through the Bison defence and let a shot go from the slot that beat Christie. That made the score 4-2, at 5:39. Riap completed the hat trick at the 8:15 mark of the second with a great second effort. He won the draw, and while falling to his knees as he went to the net (but kept swatting at), got enough wood on it to poke it through the five-hole of Christie.

Still in the second, the Bisons were able to cut into the lead just as the Sioux finished killing off a penalty. Kyle Howarth hit Rick Wood with a beautiful long centering pass that went end line to the Sioux blueline. Wood froze Aaron Walski, who took over North Dakota goaltending in the second period, and beat him with a wrist shot to the blocker side. That cut the lead to two at 15:48. Just before the end of the second, the Sioux added one more and made it 6-3 at 19:42.

Chay Genoway scored North Dakota’s seventh goal at 7:41 of the third, on a shot from the point that got past a screened Justin Harris, who started in net for the Bisons to begin the third. The Sioux scored another by Andrew Kozek at 10:33. Kozek had the puck bounce to him while he was all alone in the slot and he went low stick-side on Harris. Oshie added one last goal at 13:20 to make the final score 9-3.

Manitoba returns home and enjoys some home cooking, as they will prepare for their home opener against defending Canada West champion Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday, October 12 and Saturday, October 13. Game time both nights is 7 p.m. at Max Bell Arena.

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