Name: Rob Smith Position: Defence Year: 4th

December 5 - Christmas Comes Early

Coming into the last series before Christmas break, we were looking to prove that we could be a better team on home-ice. The third ranked U of Saskatchewan Huskies (a team that had swept us in our home opening series and had done it in the last 30 seconds of the second game) were in town to play us. It was a weekend where we needed to get some revenge. And that is exactly what we did. We took both games, got four big points (Ed Note: first sweep of Huskies in 12 years!) and did it in a convincing fashion.

The Bison Road Warrior game finally came to home ice. Before the series started, we actually simulated a road game and went to St. John's College for a team meal. If it was the meal or not, we had the mind frame we needed. This was a great way to end the first half of the season. We now have a whole month to heal up and be ready to go come January.

I must mention some of the special guests we had in attendance this weekend. The Vanier Cup Champs were present showing off the Cup. The football team always gives us a huge boost and adds some much needed energy to Max Bell. It’s as close as we get to 'Maxing the Max.' You gotta know that the opposition hates getting sent to the penalty box when there is a bunch of solid guys yelling "it’s all your fault" or "warm up the bus." Awesome support.

We'll talk in January.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

November 22 - Four Games to Go

Despite losing both games on the weekend against Calgary (one overtime loss), we still find ourselves in a pretty good situation. We are over .500 and have a favourable schedule after the Christmas break. In saying that, we need to get out of this first half with some wins. We play four very important games, two on the road in Regina and two at home versus Saskatchewan. We started our season in Regina this year and got the sweep. We know we can win in that building. At home to U of Saskatchewan, this will be a bit tougher with our team struggling on home ice thus far and they are one of the best teams in the CIS. Last time they were here, we lost two very close games. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from losing one of them in the last 30 seconds.

The key for us this weekend or anytime you lose a few games in a row - hardwork. Lately, we have done more puck chasing than Nolan Waker on a Saturday night bar run.

We'll talk soon

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

November 15 - Back in the Home Barn

Our undefeated road record came to an end this past weekend when we dropped one game to Lethbridge. I thought our team got the split by playing some average hockey. Even our win Friday night, we did not play where we are capable of playing. Saturday was even worse. We lacked that energy and speed we have been winning with lately. This series was somewhat disappointing but it is a series you just have to move on. We know we are better than we showed.

This coming weekend we are back at home and glad to be back. It seems like a long time since we last played at home.

The last two weeks have seemed even longer with mid-terms going on, assignments due, and being on airplanes and buses for the last two weeks. That time is over now, and we have six games before Christmas, four of them at Max Bell Centre.

This weekend Calgary is in town. This Dinos are way better than their record shows. They have lost four games in overtime. If they get those wins, they are an over .500 hockey club. They also have an ex-NHLer who is now eligible to play and starting his season in Winnipeg against us. Should be interesting. The game plan is to give the puck to Kornelsen. He scores from everywhere.

We’ll talk soon.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

November 6 - Bison Road Warriors

British Columbia was definitely good to us this past weekend. En Route, we enjoyed airplane TV as we spent about three hours in the air. This is mostly a good experience except when you get that one TV that works on and off or worse yet, not at all. We arrived Thursday night; got settled in; had a good meal and either relaxed in the hotel or spent some valuable time with family or friends.

Friday came and it was time for some hockey. We had a pre-game skate in the morning to shake off the ‘plane legs.’ We also usually skate Friday mornings because we miss Thursday's practice because of travel. It is good to hit the ice and touch the puck before game time. These ‘skates’ are very short but well worth it.

We arrived at the rink and Mr. Waker (Nolan's dad) had beaten us there. Wow, I knew Nolan's dad was committed. He travels to a lot of games hitting many destinations but this time he actually beat the team to the game. The game was at 7:30 p.m. and we usually arrive two hours before. I guess he needed that time to be ready for the game! Aside from Nolan's dad, when the game started we soon realized that we might have more support in the stands than them (UBC). The Toews, Cowans, Smiths were among some of the families. We also had the woman's soccer team out supporting. They were playing in the Canada West Playoffs during the weekend. On top of this, we had past billets of players who played close to the BC area come out to cheer us on. Last but not least, we had "Crazy Carl," blowing his horn for the Bisons. It was one of our goals to take over their barn (rink) and I think we did that both in the stands and on the scoreboard.

Taking both games in BC over the weekend has put our road record to 4-0 in league play. On Friday, November 2, we won 4-3 coming from behind, and Saturday, November 3 we won 3-2 and held onto a lead. I really liked how our wins were different this weekend. On Friday, we had to dig down real deep and come from behind. We showed some excellent resilience by never giving up and scoring two goals really late in the game. On Saturday, we scored two goals early and played with the lead virtually the entire game until the third period where they tied it up. This was not a big problem because we responded soon after with a goal by Kyle Nichols to put us back in front. In this game, we lost momentum late in the game but quickly regained our composure and found a way to win in the end. A good team needs to be able to win both ways. We did it this weekend. Our team did something that is really tough to do in this league…we got the ‘road sweep!’

We continue our road trip this coming weekend when we travel to Lethbridge to play the Pronghorns.

We'll talk soon.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

October 29 – Finding Our Game

If you would have told me before our series with Alberta that we were going to get the split, I would very much have accepted that. However after Friday's performance (5-3 win), and heading into the third period Saturday tied 4-4 (being so very close to sweeping a team that historically probably has not been swept by the Bisons for a long, long time), my expectations and goals changed from a split to a sweep.

Now, there could be a lot to say about our third period on Saturday, October 27. We ended up losing the game 7-4. However, I would rather comment on the five periods where we probably played the strongest hockey we have played this season thus far. In game two, we overcame not one, but twice two goal deficits. Against a team with a lot of firepower like Alberta (once they are up they play to embarrass not just to win), this is a big positive. I think our team showed a lot of character working our way back into the game on both occasions. I hate to say it but since I have been playing here, it has been quite the achievement just to keep it close with Alberta. That is not the case anymore.

We also had guys like Riley Dudar, Stephane Lenoski, and Travis Kornelson (who by the way got the "Monster" of the Game award after the game Friday - this is the award our team gives out to the guy who contributes hugely to the team in some way or the other) find the net. Also, we played with five defensemen both nights. The ‘D’ logged a lot of minutes but we all seemed to handle it very well. We played tough and smart even though I suspect some of our legs were feeling a little "jello-like" closer to the end of the series. The good thing about the CIS is that you don't play until next weekend. Those legs will recover by then. That's if our trainers don't make us run sprints like it was our job! Just kidding Tim and Jen. We love you.

Off to B.C. next weekend. We'll talk soon.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

October 23 - The Ups and Downs of a “All-You-Can-Eat Buffet”

This last week our hockey team Manitoba Bisons) went on a trip to Omaha Nebraska to play a couple of Division 1 NCAA hockey teams. We left Wednesday and arrived home Sunday night. The drive was about 10 hours. On the way there, we split the drive in half driving to Fargo, then on to Omaha the next morning. There are a lot of events that go down when a team hops on a bus and travels together. On this particular trip, one central theme became apparent.

Any time we needed to eat, an all-you-can-eat buffet suddenly appeared right before our eyes. Before we even arrived in Omaha, there were two buffets, which our team came across. Now if you have ever been to a Royal Fork or Golden Corral, you might be able to understand these circumstances. They are inexpensive. There is a lot of food. Not all of it is good. In fact, much of it is very greasy but you didn’t stop here on your own. You were brought here by someone else and you just gotta eat something. So at this point, you are probably thinking you want to try it all. There is so much of it, and its right there, how could you not try a little bit of this and a little bit of that?

So...three to four plates later and this is not including the soft-ice cream station that includes hot fudge, caramel, colored candy sprinkles, almonds, nuts, cherry sauce and more or perhaps the Belgium waffle maker that pumps out scrumptious waffles in less than two minutes and all you have to do is give it one flip. The only other thing to do is to decide what goes down first - salad, dessert, or your other two to three main courses??? Different orders do occur frequently and are often encouraged. So now that your stomach has been hugely expanded, and you have been through the “kid in a candy store” stage, what happens next?

The Aftermath!!! Of course, this happens after you wobble to the washroom to try to do as much ‘business’ there as you can before you get back on the bus with everyone else. Allowing wastes to leave the body in the form of a #2 is highly frowned upon on the bus. Its pretty much against the team culture... If you cannot help it, you might be subject to a team fine!

So for the finale, you pretty much lay motionless, undo your belt so your stomach has more room to expand and moan and groan about how much you ate. After the bus trip, trips to the hotel room washrooms are made frequently. In this case, tomorrow meant it all started again.

We will talk soon.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

October 15 – Pure Disappointment

Coming off a sweep to open the season last week in Regina versus the Cougars, the feeling was really good heading into this last weekend tilt against the U of Saskatchewan Huskies. Team morale seemed high, chemistry was being built, the team looked very confident. We felt ready for our next challenge. U of S came in and stole four points. This was extremely hard to take.

Ever since I have been playing hockey in Manitoba, the Huskies has been a very strong team. After all, they did qualified for Nationals last year, which is a great accomplishment in the CIS. It is fair to say that they have beaten us way more than we have beaten them over the past few years. However after Friday night’s game, I felt their domination over us was all but finished. We lost a very close game and didn't play entirely well. Leaving that game Friday night, despite losing, I felt okay because I knew there was a much better Bison team that I hoped would come to play the next night.

The second game was a grind for us. We killed ten penalties. Much of them bunched together. The team had four healthy defensemen (I must take a moment here to praise David Brown. He played with a partially separated shoulder and it’s not even near the time of year where you do that yet). Fast-forwarding to the end of the game, we found a way to go up 3-2 with about five minutes to play on a garbage goal scored by Nick Cowan.

Then came the hard part. We lost the lead a few minutes later and then lost the game with approximately 30 seconds left. Wow, did that sting! We not only lost in that last thirty, we got swept at home. And this all stings more knowing that you are better and should have deserved a better fate. All this called for a Rob only night with a beer and an Xbox. Justin Harris, one of our goalies, would appreciate the fact that Halo 3 was played till 3 a.m. that night.

So Instead of 4-0, we are 2-2 and we don't have a chance to get back of track (in conference league play) for two weeks when Alberta comes into town. That will be another good test.

I know this is kind of a ‘sour’ blog but hey, stuff like this happens in life and there are ‘downs’ in hockey. I am just trying to be real. This weekend really sucked! I don't want to have another one like it.

We will recover.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

September 19 - Welcome to the CIS

Coming off a pretty good weekend in Dauphin with two wins in exhibition matches over Regina and Saskatchewan, there were some not so good CIS de-buts. In their first game as Bisons in the CIS, a few players (first year players) had some rough experiences.

Let's start with Mike Hellyer receiving eight stitches in his lip after taking a cross-check to the mouth in our game versus Regina. Nothing much to say here. This is NOT FUN!

Next we had Dan Giesbrecht’s skate busting, forcing him to wear a different players skates. This is bad news as well. Wearing someone else's skates is not fun on a Sunday leisurely pond skate, it is especially not fun when it's your first game in a different league and above that in, still in tryouts. Hats off to Dan, he finished the game.

And this last one ‘gets’ me. Dalyn Flatt (Flatter) gets kicked out of his first game only five minutes into the second period on a somewhat sketchy ‘hitting from behind’ call. So he doesn't finish that one and in his second game, he tries again. This time he gets hit high and gets cut for four stitches in two different places (just missing his eye). He gets patched up, misses the second period…again but comes back to finish the third. Good job Flatter but its looking doubtful that he will play one entire hockey game yet this year. He is 0 for 2. If hockey doesn't work, it now looks like modeling is also out of the question.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca

September 12 - Bison Training Camp or 3rd round playoffs?

From the title of this blog, you should understand that the 2007 training camp has been nothing short of tough.

I do not say this in a complaining tone or that camp has been too easy in the past, it is just that this year's camp has really been a notch up! We have some great new recruits that are putting some pressure on some of last year's veterans. There are spots up for grabs and a lot of guys so far are doing a great job of proving that they should be here in the long run.

Training camp has really been what it should be like; extremely intense, physical, a challenge to one's conditioning and really tough on the body. Seriously though, if you would have walked into our dressing room after the intra-squad game (Brown vs. Gold) on Saturday, you would have thought we just finished a playoff series or something. There were ice packs all over the place, therapists running all over, and unfortunately two players who were sent to the hospital (they are currently recovering).

Brown took the game 4-1. One of the hardest parts of losing that game for myself was that Chris Zuk, the University of Manitoba Sports Information Officer, was the 'guest coach'.This is one person you do not want to lose too. You'll never hear the end of it. Apparently in the room between periods, he even gave the guys some sort of 'motivational' talk about his first full marathon and how he was hitting the wall at mile 20 but pushed through and ran down some young guy at the end. Wow, what a character! I think this 'spontaneous talk' actually sparked the boys in brown. They did come out and finish us off in the third.

Any comments or feeback please Email: bison_sports@umanitoba.ca