Posted: Jan 05, 2018
By: Jason Pchajek, Bisons Sports
WINNIPEG – Despite falling behind early, the University of Manitoba Bisons battled back with four unanswered and beat the No. 1 ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears by a 5-4 result in first overtime on Friday, Jan. 5 night.
Coming out of the holiday break, the Bisons had a tough test to start the second half, taking on the first-place University of Alberta Golden Bears. The home team battled back to take the game 5-4 in overtime.
With the win, the Bisons improve to 10-5-2, while the Golden Bears fall to 15-1-1 but hold on to first place.
"We showed a lot of character, faced a lot of adversity in the game,"Bisons head coach Mike Sirant said postgame. "A lot of penalties against us, against a very skilled team like Alberta you don't want to be killing penalties."
Manitoba went six for seven on the penalty kill.
The visitors got on the board first and early. An outlet pass by the Herd was picked off by Lucas Nickles and his backhand chance was stopped by Manitoba goaltender Byron Spriggs. The Bisons couldn't recover the puck and Steven Owre banged home his sixth goal of the season at the 2:13 mark of the opening period.
Twenty seconds after Jamie Crooks put Alberta up 2-0, Sean Christiensen had an answer. Michael St. Croix put a shot off the pad of Brendan Burke and Christiensen snapped home the rebound to bring the Bisons within one.
Following a powerplay opportunity for the home side, they were able to even things up. Adam Henry cruised down the left side, putting a shot low glove on Burke. The puck dropped off the post, into the crease and Quintin Lisoway poked it by to knot the game at two.
Manitoba kept rolling in the second, killing off three straight Bolden Bears powerplays. Brad Bowles grabbed the lead for his team, picking off an outlet pass in the slot and rifling a shot top corner for the 3-2 lead.
In the final frame St. Croix got Manitoba in front 4-2 off a slap-pass by Brett Stovin but penalty trouble put the game in jeopardy. A Cole Sanford goal got Alberta within one and Tyson Baillie evened the game on a 5-on-3 chance. A shot by Dylan Bredo bounced to the left faceoff dot and a waiting Baillie.
Spriggs stood on his head in the final moments, making multiple great saves to force the game to overtime. In the extra frame, Remi Laurencelle did it all himself, streaking into the Golden Bears zone and snapping the game winner past Burke's glove. Laurencelle was mobbed by his teammates in celebration of the 5-4 win.
Three stars
1 – Byron Spriggs (Manitoba) 33 SV
2 – Remi Laurencelle (Manitoba) 1 G
3 – Jamie Crooks (Alberta) 1 G 2 A