The Bisons suffered a tough loss on the coast. However, it was a game whre they seemed to gain momentum as it went on. UBC outshot the Bisons 13-7 in the 1st period, but it was a 1-1 draw. The Tweety-Birds notched the only goal in the 2nd period, although they were outshot 15-9. So the shots were 22-22 entering the 3rd period.
It appears that UBC played the dangerous "go into a shell" plan in the 3rd. The Bisons outshot them 19-4 in the period. But Jordan White stopped all those shots so the game ended 2-1 for UBC. Here's how the UBC writer saw it:
... “I thought Whitey was great tonight,” said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic of White. “I thought he was the difference. We need goaltenders to steal us games. Tonight, he stole us a game.”
Wyatt Hamilton (3rd, Cochrane, AB) scored the game-winning goal in the second period after UBC's Marc Desloges (5th, Vancouver, BC) and Manitoba's Matthew Lowry traded first period tallies.
Hamilton's goal came at 10:16 of the second period on a partial 2-on-1. Skating down the right side, he snapped home a Scott Wasden (3rd, Westbank, BC) pass from the leftcircle.
The goal came against the flow of play as Manitoba dominated puck possession in the second and third periods, outshooting UBC 35-13 after the Thunderbirds had a 13-6 advantage in the opening frame. ...
This was a key win for the Dinos. The fact that only 2 points were awarded no doubt suits the Bisons and Alberta just fine. Calgary has been struggling to make their mark as a contender, while Sask had the best record in the west. This was a defensive battle, with shots favouring Calgary by 21-19. I wish this was on CanadaWest.tv.
I saw bits of this on CanadaWest.tv, even though Lethbridge had no play by play announcer for it. The H0rny Ones exploded for 3 goals in the 3rd period in a must-win game. They had experienced 7 straight losses. This should be a battle for 6th place all season long.
The Bisons got the needed split with a convincing win. They had a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd period, where they outshot the Tweety-Birds 17-7 and mounted a 4-1 lead. A goal with 30 seconds left embellished the scoreline for UBC.
Brenden Rowinski opened scoring for the Bisons with his 4th of the season. Then Blair Macaulay scored his 8th, 9th, and 10th. Jesse Deckert started in goal. This was the first time he has ever started both games in a weekend in his 5 years in the league.
The results set up a tight finish to the first semester. With two weeks left Alberta and Calgary now have 18 points, and Sask and Manitoba have 16. Due to games in hand, Calgary would fall from 2nd to 4th by winning percentage.
Just when the Hillbillies seemed set to adopt the "Team to Beat" monicker they walk into Calgary and leave with one point for an OTL in two games. After a sputtering start, the two wins raise the Dinos to 9-5-0. And they have done so against a good team.
The Dinos will visit the Bisons next weekend. It appears that the top four will battle it out all season.
I saw some of this one on CanadaWest.tv. Regina built a 2-0 lead but a quick shot of Viagra and the H0rny Ones came back to force OT. Though Regina won, the bonus point gave Lethbridge a 3-2 points edge on the weekend. Regina pulls a point ahead of Lethbridge in the race for 6th.
My son was under the weather so I had to miss this one. He should be good to go on Saturday night, and hopefully we will see the Bisons play at full throttle yet again.
The one thing to determine for sure is the score. The CIS is reporting it as 8-1 instead of 9-1, and record only one Bison goal in the 2nd period. I was following the live updates on LeagueStat and can verify that the 2nd period goals were credited at the time.
It appears that the crowded net in Calgary has not had the desired effect. Dustin Butler had been one of the best goaltenders in the CIS the last two years. But on Friday night he gave up 9 goals on 31 shots. Meanwhile, Jese Deckert seems to be the new #1 for the Bisons as he started yet again.
After sweeping the Banjo-Mutts last weekend one had to think that Calgary had rebounded from their sweep by the Bisons to open the season. Nevertheless a 2-1 win on Saturday would see the teams go level on the weekend.
Blair Macaulay had a hat-trick and Del Cowan a pair for the Bisons. Singles were tallied by Brandon Lockerby, Tyler Dittmer, Mike Hellyer, and Matt Lowry. Macaulay now has 13 goals in 13 games. (Unless that 2nd period goal disappears.)
After last weekend the Banjo-Mutts entered the weekend feeling feeling pressure for a sweep. They are now half-way there. UBC is tough to sweep. However, it is a home series for Sask and their opponents often have a hard time adapting to the outhouses, horse-drawn buggies, and other rustic elements of life in hillbilly-land.
UBC did manage to outshoot their hoists 29-26 on the night, which is unusual. There were also only 5 minor penalties in the game.
It is no surprise to see the Evil Monkeys beat Regina. However, Regina's MO thus far has been to be outshot on Friday but still scrounge a point or two somehow. It did not work tonight. However, The Banjo-Cats were not outshot as badly as normal (42-31). Maybe there is hope for them in the rematch.
In a season where the top four seem to pulling away (again), it is rare to see a 4-0 whitewash in points in a series between two of the contenders. Yet that is what the Bisons have accomplished against Calgary for the second time this season.
However, the Bisons gained no ground because Sask edged out UBC and the Evil Monkeys scraped out four points in Regina's toughest performance of the season. More about those games later.
After suffering an embarrassing whipping on Friday night I fulled expected the Flintstones to be loaded for bear. They did come out strong in the first period. But I must say that I found them to be a petulant team of hackers and whackers. Instead of playing physical, they were much more inclined to take cheap shots after the whistle, hack the goalie, and basically use their stick as much as possible. The referees kind of let that stuff go which was a bit of a pain to watch.
One time they did give Chad Erb a penalty for pushing one hacker away from the goaltender whilst killing a penalty. The referee gave him another 2 minutes. It was at that time that Calgary scored their only two goals of the game, and a 2-0 lead.
The one call I did not like was a major and game misconduct against Chris Benias 15 minutes into the 2nd period. It was announced as a head-shot against Calgary's Teagan Zahn (a 6' 2" defenceman). Benias is listed as 5' 6", but that is generous. I doubt he could reach Zahn's head. Zahn was down like he was dead. But in the end never missed a shift.
In my view, teams that play "pussy hockey" never succeed in the end. Calgary has to take off the skirts and develop some toughness to maintain a "big four" in the west.
Anyhow, back to the game.
Down 2-0 in the 2nd period, the Bisons had their own PP and Jeremy Schappert scored when pinching in from the point to narrow the gap to 2-1. They outshot Calgary 14-6 in the period, and 25-15 on the night. So although trailing, it seemed that a comeback had a pretty good chance.
Brenden Rowinski scored early in the 3rd period to tie it up and the Bisons never looked back. Ian Duval set him up as a line change was in progress. Jered Walker gave the Bisons their first lead 11 minutes in, finishing a 3-way passing play by going top shelf. Ian Duval closed the scoring on a nice play by Mike Hellyer. He and Duval were alone in front of the net and Hellyer waited to the last possible second to freeze the goaltender then dish off to Duval, who had nothing but net in front of him.
Calgary is now the first team to finish their first half conference schedule. They are off to Thunder Bay next weekend to face the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Here's how they lined up:
MANITOBA BISONS
Goal:
Deckert (Caligiuri)
Defence:
Schappert - Crowley
Erb - Rumsey
Mealy - Bobbee
(Mealy mostly played with others in what was largely a 5 man rotation)
Forwards:
Dittmer - Walker - Macaulay
Hellyer - Duval - Lowry
Rowinski - Benias - Cowan
Bestland - Lockerby - Flynn
(the 4th line was an all d-man line!)
Scratches:
Friesen (G) Schmidt (D) Lauder (F) Davis (F)
Forwards:
Ross - Moore - Grant
Hood - Robinson - Nixon
Wintoneak - Stefishen - Jorgensen
McNaught - sometimes on Robinson line
Gillen - listed as d-man but had a shift or two as forward
Rovatti - never saw him out there
After losing to the Dinos last weekend, the Banjo-Mutts needed this sweep. UBC played them close, and even had a 30-27 lead in SOG. UBC seem entrenched in 5th place now. Sask is tied with Manitoba for 2nd, although both IMO are better than Alberta thus far. Sask has 2/3 of a win v Lethbridge and Manitoba had a win over Alberta reversed.
Regina is full value for having gotten a point against Alberta. This may have been their best weekend of the season. They were not grotesquely outshot (for a change). IMO Alberta is somewhat flattered by their record. They will be in Winnipeg to face the Herd next weekend.
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (10-2-2, 5th in OHT34) MANITOBA BISONS (9-3-2, 3rd in OHT34)
Friday, December 2nd, 7:00 p.m. CDT @ Max Bell Arena U of M
Saturday, December 3rd, 7:00 p.m. CDT @ Max Bell Arena U of M
This is a big series which actually starts the second half of the regular season schedule for both teams. These two and the Saskatchewanites are pulling away from the pack.
The last series they had was in Saudi Alberta. I was able to see the games on CanadaWest.tv. The Bisons took the opener despite being assessed 75 minutes in penalties to 8 for Alberta. Then things got crazy on Saturday. The game went into overtime and Alberta scored with too many monkeys on the ice. The linesman never blew the play down but told the ref. So the goal was waived off and Alberta got a penalty. Manitoba scored and won. But the decision was reversed. Rather than apply the "get the call right" principle, it was thought better to allow too many monkeys to get away with one.
Alberta has been able to blitz the bottom three in the CW so far, going 8-0-0. However, against the top four they are only 1-2-3 (2-2-2 after the reversal). Conversely, Manitoba is 6-1-1 against the top four (5-1-2 after the reversal) and 4-2-0 against the minnows.
This series will be the last games for the Bisons until the new year. The team will disband for exams and then a Christmas break. Meanwhile, Alberta will play Denmark's world junior team in two games. They were also to face the Czechs, but due to scheduling problems that game has been cancelled as per the above link.
The news from Regina is that goaltender A.J. Whiffen left school. This has forced them to recruit another goaltender for the second half. For this weekend they will have either a senior leaguer of a junior "B" goaltender serving as a backup.
Regina has been severely outplayed all year, yet have managed to scrounge points on most weekends. They did manage to do reasonably well against Alberta last weekend, so maybe they have some life. The contenders would be happy if Sask comes with something less than 4 points.
There was some big off-ice news for Lethbridge and Calgary. They will combine to face Team Canada's world junior team. They beat TC a few years back. Here is the lineup for the Dinohorns:
FORWARDS
Winston Day Chief, Standoff, Alta. (Univ. of Lethbridge)
Tyler Fiddler, Calgary, Alta., Calgary Hitmen (Univ. of Calgary)
Taylor Gal, Lethbridge, Alta., Medicine Hat Tigers (Univ. of Lethbridge)
Dylan Hood, Osoyoos, B.C., Moose Jaw Warriors (Univ. of Calgary)
Nick Hotson, Winnipeg, Man., Lethbridge Hurricanes (Univ. of Lethbridge)
Dan Iwanski, Calgary, Alta., Everett Silvertips (Univ. of Lethbridge)
Reid Jorgensen, Vancouver, B.C., Kamloops Blazers (Univ. of Calgary)
Dustin Moore, Red Deer, Alta., Red Deer Rebels (Univ. of Lethbridge)
Teegan Moore, Thompson, Man., Brandon Wheat Kings (Univ. of Calgary)
Brock Nixon, Russell, Man., Calgary Hitmen (Univ. of Calgary)
Taylor Stefishen, North Vancouver, B.C., Prince George Cougars (Univ. of Calgary)
Walker Wintoneak, Thunder Bay, Ont., Saskatoon Blades (Univ. of Calgary)
DEFENCEMEN
Brett Bartman, Medicine Hat, Alta., Spokane Chiefs (Univ. of Calgary)
Luke Egener, Calgary, Alta., Red Deer Rebels (Univ. of Calgary)
Brent Henke, Edmonton, Alta., Edmonton Oil Kings (Univ. of Lethbridge)
DJ McDougall, Fort MacLeod, Alta. (Univ. of Lethbridge)
Cory Pritz, Red Deer, Alta. (Univ. of Calgary)
Teigan Zahn, Bethune, Sask., Saskatoon Blades (Univ. of Calgary)
Calgary is using the bye week to head east and play a former GPAC team. Calgary has nestled into 4th place. Their pre-season ranking as a contender, both in the CW and the CIS as a whole, now seems a little off.
Lakehead has what appears to be a good record. However, even by OUA standards they have had a soft schedule. Their only wins over decent teams have been against Ottawa and Windsor (ranked 17th and 26th in the OHT34). They are 3-1 against #30 Laurier, and 2-0 against each of #29 York, #33 UOIT, and #31 Guelph. So these games with Calgary are a rare opportunity to play a team in the top half of the CIS. I would like to see Lakehead return to be a contender. Their program seemed to be set back by hosting the nationals. Instead of being a boost, they started a decline which has continued.
The Bisons used to go out to T-Bay between Christmas and New Year's for a tournament, which then became a two game series. This year Lakehead will be hosting Carleton.
The Bisons notched a key win over the Evil Monkeys. The win, combined with the Banjo-Mutts' win, leaves the three sides tied atop the CW standings. If not for Saudi Alberta being granted special permission to score with too many mone=keys on the ice, Manitoba would be 1st, Sask 2nd, and Alberta 3rd. The game can be seen in the "on demand" section at CanadaWest.tv. The recording starts about 10-15 minutes early so you hear sound-checks and see a team practicing.
The Bisons started slow and in fact looked somewhat "off". They were down 1-0 on a goal by Jets' prospect Levko Koper. The Bisons got it together as the period progressed. A point shot from Jeremy Schappert was deflected by Brenden Rowinski (6 goals in 10 games) to level the scores. Another point shot from Travis Mealy on the PP with 4 seconds left made it 2-1 for the Bisons.
The Bisons carried the play early in the 2nd period and Blair Macaulay scored (his 13th) from the point two minutes in and victory seemed just around the corner. Especially when a monkey was assessed two minutes for an evil deed and the Bisons went on a PP and just missed on several good chances. A golden opportunity for a 4-1 lead went amiss. Instead, Alberta rallied and in the end left the period) in which shots were 18-17 for Manitoba) down only one goal.
Things were back to normal in the 3rd. Alberta was held to 8 shots and there were no goals, and generally few good chances.
While I plan on attending Saturday's rematch live and in person, for those planning on watching the Jets on HNIC, you can also follow the Herd on CanadaWest.tv.
What a blow-out. Maybe the Premier of Saskatchewan should create some interest in the rematch by declaring an "Outhouse Bowl" where the winner gets a fresh sliver-free outhouse in the middle of their campus. Yee=haw! That would generate interest. I wonder if Regina can win 2-1 for a split? That would be ironic. They have managed to scrounge such points this year. The Saturday night rematch is also scheduled for CanadaWest.tv.
The H0rny Ones need a shot of viagra if they want to be a factor in this year's race. UBC are all cozy in 5th place now and seem destined to meet Calgary in a quarter-final series. This one was tied 1-1 after two periods. Then UBC pumped in four goals in a 3rd period where they dominated 21-7 on the shot clock. There was supposed to be a live audio link but it was not on Friday night.
The Thunder-Mutts picked up a tidy win over the Flintsones. Once considered a contender, Calgary now seems to have hit the skids. They went with Jacob DeSerres in goal. One would think they would want all 3 goaltenders to get some work on the weekend. Although it is not uncommon for some players with exams at this time of year to stay home.
This was a golden opportunity for the Bisons to sweep yet another Alberta team. They are now 9-1 (or 8-1-1 after appeals) against the Province of Saudi Alberta.
The Evil Monkeys scored twice on d'oh! goals that snuck past Jesse Deckert and twice on questionable 5-on-3 PP's.
Scoring started 7 seconds into the game when Johnny Lazo dribbled one towards the net. Deckert took a nonchalant stab, missed, and it was 1-0. Play was more or less even for the rest of the period until Dane Crowley was penalized for hooking whilst killing a penalty (he actually lifted the stick of a Monkey), and Colin Joe made it 2-0. The Bisons picked up the pace once they killed their penalties and the pressure created their own PP. Jeremy Schappert then scored yet another goal from the point, and the Bisons trailed 2-1 after one.
The 2nd period got off to a rough start. With the Bisons killing a penalty, Chad Erb pushed over a Monkey who was hacking the goalie after the whistle. The last two weekends the officials have shown great tolerance for those who hack goaltenders after the whistle, and Levko Koper cashed in to make it 3-1 Monkeys.
There was not much action in the 3rd period. But midway through Darren Bestland cashed in to narrow the gap to 3-2. The Bison 4th line deserved a goal. The three d-men were doing some good work all weekend. It must be said that they were inn the midst of a line change when the goal was scored. The Bison attempts to tie the game were thwarted and the comeback was effectively laid to rest when James Dobrowolski chipped a one-handed swipe over Deckert's shoulder for the second d'oh! goal of the night. Ian Duval did score on a nice 3-way passing play to make the last 2 minutes interesting.
BTW, the Monkeys tried to deny their monkeyness by wearing the dark green sweaters with "Alberta" written diagonally across, instead of the usual Monkey face logo. They also had odd white-and-yellow socks that made them look like an east-European team of some sort. Maybe they should have зло мавп on those sweaters!
When I saw the score I thought it made sense. Regina appears to have hit the skids. But, lo-and-behold, Regina actually outshot somebody! Newcomer Troy Moltz went the distance in the Regina goal. The Bisons will be hoping that Regina does not find their form over the holidays. The Herd will visit them January 6th and 7th in their next action.
Like on Friday, this was a tight game (4-3 for UBC) after two periods before UBC put the boots to the H0rny Ones in the 3rd period. The weekend results seem to indicate that UBC will be facing Calgary in the 4 v 5 quarter-final and Lethbridge will fight it out with Regina to see who will be cannon fodder for the 3rd place team in the other quarter-final.
Calgary appears to have let one slip away. Kris Lazaruk started in goal but gave up 4 goals on 15 shots, Jacob DeSerres finished and gave up one goal on 8 shots. So Dustin Butler had the weekend off. Not sure if he was even available. One would think that an all-Canadian goaltender would get a shot if he was available. Meanwhile, Calgary amassed 40 shots of their own.
While Calgary has the talent on paper, there is no doubt that they have failed to gel as a team. After a so-so start, it appeared that they had turned the corner when they swept Sask. That, however, appears to be the aberration on their form chart. It looks like Calgary will be #4 and will face UBC in the quarter-finals.
Lakehead must be feeling good. Although they have steamrolled through the OUA West, they have had such a soft schedule that they are tough to rank. They could use a revived GPAC so they could face good teams all year long.
NEXT UP:
Dec. 13 Team Canada at Calgary/Lethbridge
Dec. 15 Team Denmark at Alberta
Dec. 16 Team Denmark at Alberta
Jan. 2 Alberta vs Calgary
Jan. 2 Lethbridge at SAIT
Jan. 3 Alberta vs Lethbridge
Jan. 3 Calgary at SAIT
OUT EAST:
Dec. 3
UQTR 3 Carleton 2 - OT
Concordia 3 Ottawa 5
York 4 Laurier 1
Ryerson 5 UOIT 4 - OT
Windsor 2 Waterloo 4
On December 13th the Team Canada WJHC team faced the Dinohorns in their final selection game. The win broke a two game losing streak for TC against CW opposition. They lost to the Husky-Cougars and a previous edition of the Dinohorns before the last two WJHC events held in western Canada. Also, TC split a pair of games against the Manitoba Bisons the year the tournament was held in North Dakota. I saw some of the game on FastHockey, which was fairly decent I must say. Though I don't know why they dub these teams "CIS All-Stars". Team Canada's PK was victimized and none of the goalies looked too sharp. Both sides used two different goalies from the TC camp.
The Evil Monkeys did a nice job on the Danes in the games played December 15th and 16th. The Danes are new to the WJHC and hope to stay around for next year's tournament. This is written about in Evan Daum's story at Canada.com and the Vancouver Province. They have steadily improved at senior level. On February 12, 1949 they were beaten 47-0 by Canada in what remains a record whitewash. As recently as 1994 they were beaten at junior level by 22-0 against Slovakia.
Manitoba Bison head coach Mike Sirant took a leave of absence to help them out. I would like to see them send a team over to play the Bisons.
The Danes had a pre-season tour of the QMJHL where they exceeded expectations. Their results were:
August 28th: Blainville-Bobriand Armada 5 Denmark 4
August 30th: Shawinigan Cataract 5 Denmark 4
September 1st: Rimouski Oceanic 3 Denmark 1
September 2nd: Acadie-Bathurst Titan 8 Denmark 6
Sure, that's 0-4. But not too long ago a 2nd tier national junior team would have lost badly to Junior "A" teams. Check the QMJHL standings. Those teams rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in their respective divisions as I post.
STORIES FROM AROUND THE CIS
The CIS Blog has its final CW weekly round-up as does South Campus Sports. The stories share my view that one has to rank Sask-Man-Alta-Cal in that order so far.
Chris Benias was Bison sports male athlete of the week for the week ended December 4th. Benias has been a 4th liner and often a healthy scratch in previous seasons. Now with the team being heavy on D and short up front, he has been centering one of the top 3 lines and getting a lot of ice time.
BlairMacAulay was also named the WHL grad of the month for November-December. Since most CW players are WHL grads, this is an impressive award. He may be the best pure sniper in the CIS.
Incidentally, both Benias and MacAulay are both MJHL grads, also.
The Mount Royal Cougars are slated to join the CW next season. They are finishing up their last season in the ACAC in style, with a 13-1-2 record so far. The ACAC is odd this year in that there is a huge gap in the standings between 4th and 5th. Mount Royal is first at 28 points and are followed by SAIT, NAIT, and Augustana who all have 25. Then there is a 15 point gap between those teams and Portage.
The CIS site has a first half recap of the OUA with a team-by-team report. The big story IMO is that the OUA East has dominated the OUA West in their interlocking schedule.
The CIS Blog also has their final AUS weekly update story. There is also a story that Dalhousie has fired their coach, Pete Belliveau. Or is he going to be more of a GM/recruiter? Stay tuned for that one. They have stunk, so maybe devoting time to finding players for next year may be a good idea.
MANITOBA BISONS (10-4-2, 3rd in OHT34) REGINA COUGARS (4-10-2, 22nd in OHT34)
Friday, January 6th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Regina
Saturday, January 7th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Regina
EDIT: There is a PREVIEW now posted at the U of R site.
Finally, the Herd will hit the ice. The bad news is they will have to travel to Banjoland to face the Hillbillies, feline version. Neither side had any games throughout the break. So I suspect that the first game at least will be a little awkward.
The Bisons need a sweep. There are only 7 weeks left in the regular season, and each team has one bye week. So any points lost to Regina, even on the road, could cost them home ice advantage in a playoff series.
The Banjo-Cats have had a simple and not very successful formula: Get outshot by a wide margin and hope that Lucas Gore stops an obscene number of pucks and that the rest of the team cashes in on the PP.
SAIT hosted a 4 team tournament earlier this week. Calgary took the title. Is this a sign of things to come? SAIT is in a tight race to catch up to Mount Royal in the ACAC. The blew a 4-1 lead in their game with Lethbridge. So a nice comeback for the H0rny Ones, but still no wins.
There will actually be three games decided in this series. On Friday at 6:40 MST the teams will play the 3rd period of the game suspended due to a leaking Zamboni back in October. Sask leads that game 3-0. The Banjo-Mutts are in a situation similar to the Bisons in that they will be under pressure to get all 6 points. Meanwhile, Lethbridge will be striving to catch Regina for the 6th and final playoff spot. IMO Lethbridge looked better than Regina.
This series is a home-and-home. Calgary could fall out of contention for a top 2 position this weekend. They beat the Evil Monkeys twice already in their earlier series, and again in the SAIT tournament. Calgary has an impressive team on paper. If they can get it together on the ice then Alberta is in trouble. It struck me that an over-abundance of new players was proving to be a problem. In goal, they used Butler against Alberta and then had Lazaruk and DeSerres split the Lethbridge game.
Since UBC have a bye week they are using it to play Simon Fraser's BCIHL team. It will be interesting to see how SFU stands up since they are running away with the BCIHL so far.
This game followed the Cougars' script. They were severely outshot but hung in there. The Bisons took a 2-0 lead in the 1st period, with goals from Mike Hellyer and Jered Walker. Brett Leffler had an interesting stretch. He took a penalty and Walker scored on the PP. He then came out and took another penalty 10 seconds after the goal.
The 2nd period was one the Cougars dream of. They were outshot 16-3, bit scored the only goal (by Leffler, no less). So after two periods the shots were 24-7 but the score was 2-1.
The 3rd period saw Blair Macaulay score his 14th of the season in the opening minute. Then nothing much happened until the Banjo-Cats notched one with 30 seconds left to improve the look of the scoreboard.
Joe Caligiuri went the distance in the Bison goal and Lucas Gore did what he could in the Hillbilly net. The Bisons used the same line-up as for the pre-Christmas games, with 3 defencemen on their 4th line. Hey, it's working.
The teams first concluded the previously suspended game. The Banjo-Mutts led that one 3-0 after two periods. When the teams came out to play the 3rd period Friday night, the H0rny Ones took a dose of Viagra, Cialis, and probably several dozen oysters. Within 6 minutes, Lethbridge had tied the game on a natural hat-trick by Dustin Moore. They outshot Sask 15-4. But neither team could score in the final 14 minutes. So it was on to OT where the Mangy Ones scored.
In the full game it was all Sask. The final shots were 46-23 and Lethbridge was never really in it. So despite an heroic comeback to start the evening, in the end Sask left with all four points available to them. But I am sure Lethbridge will find the one point useful as they pursue Regina.
The Evil Monkeys won the away leg of the home-and-home series. The Dinos took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd period with a pair of PP markers. The combination of results boosts the top three even further ahead of the rest of the pack.
I saw a lot of this on the internet. UBC really dominated SFU in the 2nd and 3rd periods. However, they only scored once in 43 shots. At least that was the total late in the game on the shot clock. The stats are not on League Stat and have not been uploaded at either team site as I post.
The Bisons needed a sweep and they got it. The Bisons outshot the Banjo-Cats 47-18, including an incredible 21-2 in the 2nd period during which they amassed a 3-0 lead. It is impossible for 21-2 to be a misleading stat. Ian Duval scored his 6th and 7th goals of the season, Blair Macaulay notched his 15th, and d-man Travis Mealy will rejoice with his 2nd. (BTW, there are two other CIS players with 15 goals and two more with 14 so far.)
Also, each team switched goaltenders from Friday night. Jesse Deckert was in goal for Manitoba and newcomer Andrew Hayes made his debut for Regina, and was the 3rd star.
In reviewing the line-ups from both nights, I note that Tyler Schmidt in fact drew into the Bison lineup on defence, in place of Chad Erb. They are still using the 4th line of defencemen, as noted in Friday's recap. Former Bison Terrance Delaronde was scratched from the Cougar lineup.
The weekend results have left the Cougars a point behind Lethbridge in the race for 6th. The Bisons remain 3rd, but are now just 2 points behind Sask and Alberta. Next week the Bisons will have their final bye week of the regular season, while Regina will head out to British California.
The H0rny Ones did everybody a favour (except Regina) by taking two points from the Banjo-Mutts. That makes for a 3 point weekend, and at least temporary hold of 6th place. I guess they deserved some points after that 3 goal rally in the conclusion of the suspended game on Friday night. Sask held the lead until 12 minutes into the 3rd period, but Lethbridge was not to be denied.
Sask is now tied with the Evil Monkeys, just 2 points ahead of the Bisons. Sask and Alberta will play next weekend, and the Bisons' only wish will be that there be no 3 point games.
The home-and-home series ended with a sweep for the Evil Monkeys. The year of disappointment continues for Calgary, who are now at 9-9-0. The surprise hear was that Alberta really controlled Calgary. The shots were 38-19 and from the brief amount I saw at CanadaWest.tv that really did reflect the play. Nevertheless, Dustin Butler held Calgary in there so that Taylor Stefishen was able o give them a 2-1 lead 3 minutes into the 3rd. However, Greg Gardner and Levko Koper put the Monkeys back into the lead before an empty-netter sealed the deal.
It now seems unlikely that Calgary can avoid the quarter-final with a 2nd place finish. They are 10 points out with 10 games left.
I saw some of this one on-line in a Simon Fraser broadcast. I would say that UBC controlled more play than SFU, however SFU looked to be a decent side. The BCIHL is evidently coming along, and SFU would look to be comparable to teams like SAIT, NAIT, and MRU. It would also appear that they were a lot more serious about this "tournament". Their announcers were treating it like the Stanley Cup and there was even a trophy. Since UBC's win evened the "tournament", overtime and a shoot-out decided the matter. The announcers talked about expanding the tournament next year, which would make sense. A two team tournament?
Meanwhile, there was no mention of this on the UBC site. Saturday morning, I did see highlights of Friday's game on Sportsnet. Maybe the CW should send them HQ highlights for other games, starting with Alberta v Sask next weekend, and continuing with Sask v Manitoba the one after that.
This is a big series since the two teams are tied for first and are two points ahead of the Bisons. The Bisons' primary goal would be that only 4 points be awarded to these two over the weekend. Second, since the Bisons don't play the Evil Monkeys again, they would likely prefer either a split or a Sask sweep.
Sask had a better-than-expected first half. The scoring attack which had been touted for two years has paid off finally. They have the top three scorers and 4 of the top 9 (Hulak, Bortis, Ross, and Bailey). They lead the conference with 72 goals (the Bisons are second with 61). They are also third best in goals against (behind Alberta and Manitoba).
Of note, the series is being played at the CUC in Saskatown. Since the building is one of 5 in Saskatown with indoor plumbing (what progress!) the teams should enjoy the luxury. Also, Saturday's game will be at 2:00 p.m.
The H0rny Ones managed to scoop 3 points last weekend and vaulted past the Banjo-Cats into the 6th and final playoff spot. Will this be another year where they close strong? They are far enough back that they are likely just interested in securing a playoff berth. The Flintstones look like they will not be bursting into the top three. They will want to stay ahead of UBC in order to play the quarter-final round at home. It would be quite a disaster if they were to drop to 5th this year.
Regina stinks. If the Banjo-Cats want to catch the Tweety-Birds they will need to not only avoid the little old lady with an umbrella, they will need to surrender fewer than 40 shots and find some goal scoring. They are last in offence and defence.
Meanwhile, UBC had an inglorious split against SFU. So they should have learned not to take anybody lightly.
This was actually a good result for the Bisons. Sask kept on taking two goal leads and then salted it away with an empty-netter. The game never got particularly close to OT, so only two points were awarded. The Hillbillies racked up their 5 goals on only 23 shots. So not a stellar night for Real Cyr in the Monkey goal. David Reekie was hot for the Inbreds, stopping 35 of 37 shots. The rematch is Saturday at 2:00 CST and is available on canadawest.tv.
The Flintstones blew a 2-0 lead and are now sub-.500.Perhaps 4th place is becoming a lofty ambition. And could this be yet another second half rally for the H0rny Ones? They looked exceptionally weak in the 1st half. But 3 points in 2 1/3 games last weekend, plus this win, have vaulted them into a playoff spot.
Calgary took a 2-0 lead into the 1st intermission after having outshot Lethbridge 15-4. But then Lethbridge outshot them 31-17 over the last two periods. Very much a tale of two games. The overtime goal was scored by Tyler Hlookoff, his first of the season. Saturday's rematch will be in Calgary.
I tried getting the audio at the CITR link, but there was nothing there. This has happened before. So what's up with UBC's links? The scoreline was affected by a last minute PP/EN goal by Regina, scored after they were down 4-1.Regina is now 3 points out of 6th and UBC is 1 point out of 4th. Will the Puddy-Tat catch that bloody Tweety-Bird? The rematch goes Saturday night. Regina needs wins badly or else they will fade quickly. If UBC can lose to SFU, they can lose to anybody.
The Matinee in Bumpkinville was a game of rather extreme ups and downs. Kyle Ross scored his first of three in the night (he now has 14 on the season) to give Sask a 1-0 lead. However, a 3-goal outburst by the Evil Monkeys had them nursing a 3-1 lead by the 1st intermission.
The 2nd period was perhaps the pivotal point in Sask's season. They scored 4 goals on 12 shots to take a commanding 5-3 lead.
But, as the rollercoaster continued going up and down, things changed dramatically once again in the 3rd period. It was all one-way traffic as the Monkeys outshot the Mutts 17-3. But all they could score was one goal, and that with only 1:38 left. At the end of the game the head Organ-Grinder got a double 10 minute misconduct, likely upset about not being able to use more players than his opponent. Rumnour has it he looked like his cousin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW6szR8II5g
The Flintstones returned to Bedrock and got the two points they needed as they cling to 4th place. I would guess that the H0rny Ones will be satisfied with their two point weekend.
The Banjo-Cats are redefining the term "surrender meekly". Down 2-0 entering the third period, all they could do was amass 3 shots on the Tweety-Birds i the 3rd period. Ugh. Granted, it remained only 2-0 until UBC padded their lead with 2 goals in the last 2 minutes. UBC is now one point out of 4th and Regina is 3 points out of 6th.
The Bisons have a must-win series at home with Sask. The two teams are involved with the Evil Monkeys in a 3-way battle for first. Also, UBC and Calgary face each other in their battle for fourth. Lethbridge is at Alberta, trying to hold off idle Regina in their battle for 6th. Here is your series-by-series look at everything.
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (15-3-2, 1st in OHT34) MANITOBA BISONS (12-4-2*, 3rd in OHT34)
Friday, January 20th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena - U of M
Saturday, January 21st, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena - U of M
This is one big series. Sask leads Manitoba by 6 points, but the Herd has two games in hand, to be made up next weekend. In between, the Evil Monkeys trail the Banjo-Mutts by 4 points. The Mutts will no doubt enjoy having indoor plumbing on this cold January weekend. Hopefully, they will get too comfortable and not be able to deal with the Bison onslaught.
The Bisons and Sask can both finish first in the CW without any help. It is now late enough in the season that we could talk about a team running the table. After this weekend the Bisons have only 8 games left, and none against either Sask or Alberta.
One thing we must consider is the head-to-head records, in the event of a tie at the end of the year. The Mutts lead 4-1 on points after last weekend. After last week's sweep of the Monkeys they took that series 7-3 on points. Manitoba beat the Monkeys 5-4 on points.
The Mutts rely on their top 4 scorers, who are all in the conference's top 10. In fact, the top three scorers in the CW (Derek Hulak, Kyle Bortis, and Kyle Ross) are all Mangy Critters. However, Bison Blair Macaulay leads the conference in goals with 15, one ahead of Bortis and Ross.
Both sides have also utilized two goaltenders. Bisons Jesse Deckert and Joe Caligiuri are ranked 2nd and 4th in goaltending stats, whilst Banjoboys Ryan Holfield and David Reekie rank 3rd and 7th.
After not getting much in the name of big recruits this off-season, Sask was ranked 4th in the pre-season coaches' poll. However those under-performing recruits from prior years have come on this year. Look for two hotly contested games. Friday's game is on UMFM 101.5 if your car won't start.
According to the pre-season coaches' poll and most pundits, there was supposed to be a "Big Four" in the CW, which included Calgary. Instead, the Dinos have struggled. They appeared to get it together when they swept Sask in November. But then it was back to mediocrity.
On the other hand, UBC was supposed to be fighting it out with Regina for 6th, or maybe Lethbridge for 5th. Instead, they go into this weekend only one point behind Calgary, and with two games in hand. This really does shock me.
Although these teams seem destined to meet in the quarter-finals, this weekend should decide who will host that series.
One would imagine that the Monkeys will be seeking a rebound after last week's sweep in Saskatown. On paper, this should be a relatively easy home ice sweep over the H0rny Ones. Lethbridge is #6 in offence and defence, ahead of only Regina in both categories.
However, in the last couple of years Lethbridge has come up with a better than expected second half and could be doing the same this year. It really doesn't make any sense. But maybe it is a side-effect of all that Viagra.
The Bisons racked up a solid victory Friday night. So now they are four points behind the Banjo-Mutts, with two games in hand.
The Bisons were decisively the stronger team in the opening period. They outshot the Mutts 15-8 and led 2-0 on goals from Jared Walker (his 6th) and Matthew Lowry (his 4th). Each side had two minor penalties. Sask seldom had two shots in a row on the Bison goal. It was one shot then out.
The Bisons really took control of the game in the first half of the 2nd period. The play was very one-sided and it was only some strong goaltending by David Reekie that kept the score close. But with no goals being allowed, Sask still had a chance to steal a point or two with a break. The Bisons outshot Sask 21-11 in the period.
The 3rd period was a back and forth affair. Sask usually got one chance on their rushes before the Bisons would get the puck out, and at the other end the Bisons were happy to get the puck deep, maybe get one shot on goal, and then have at least three men back to prevent any fast breakouts.
Sask did get a break mid-period on a chintzy tripping call to Del Cowan. On such calls, it always seems the fortunate side scores, and that happened here. But within a minute of Shaun Vey celebrating his goal, Brenden Rowinski scored (7th goal in 14 games) to restore the two goal margin.
Sask did manage to close the gap with their goaltender pulled, when Derek Hulak scored on a deflection moments after a missed tripping call behind the Bison goal. But an empty-netter shortly after by Blair Macaulay (16th) closed the scoring at 4-2.
After suffering a sweep last weekend one had to assume that the evil Monkeys would rebound against the H0rny Ones, and that is just what they did. Most people feel safe calling the UBC-Calgary series a quarter-final preview. Could we do the same with this series? The Monkeys put this away with a 4 goal 2nd period.
With all their firepower the Dinos chose to play a defensive game against UBC and, in the end, it cost them. It was 2-1 for UBC after two periods, and Calgary only had 5 shots on goal in each of the first two periods. They then threw what they could at the Tweety-Birds in the 3rd, but could not score. This gives UBC at least temporary hold of 4th place. Now there's a shocker.
After a weekend in civilization, the Banjo-Mutts had to hop in the bus and return to Bumpkinville without any points. They'll have to be satisfied chewing on some rawhide, and maybe having a refreshing drink from a toilet.
My son had a game so I missed the first two periods. We arrived in the second intermission, grabbed a burger, and readied ourselves for the third period of a game the Bisons led 2-0. I had looked up the Live Stats and knew that the Bisons had Ian Duval (his 8th) and Chris Benias (his 3rd) and had outshot Sask 29-23.
The third period was fairly uneventful. It was a period perfectly designed to hold a two goal lead. Each team only had one power play and there were very few good scoring chances. The Bisons outshot Sask 8-6 and the best scoring chances were a pair of goalposts hit by Travis Mealy and Austin Lauder, seeing his first action since October 21st. Then Jered Walker put the game away mid-way through. He came down the right wing and picked the lower left hand corner with a hard shot. Chris Durand Durand was hungry like a mutt, and spoiled Joe Caligiuri's shut-out bid with just over a minute left.
So the Herd is now 2 points behind Sask and Alberta, but with two games in hand over each actually have the best winning percentage in the CW.
The H0rny Ones mounted no serious challenge to the Evil Monkeys over the weekend. In the first period of this game, the Monkeys outshot the Horns 20-4 and grabbed a 3-0 lead. The rest of the game was academic. The win moves Alberta back into a tie with Sask, to whom they lost twice last weekend. Lethbridge remains 3 points ahead of idle Regina in the race for 6th.
The anticipation that the Dinos would be part of the CW Big Four this is a page right out of his-to-ry. Not only did they slip behind the Big Three, but now the Tweety-Birds have flown right past them as well. UBC has a 3 point lead in the race for 4th, with two games in hand.
The last time UBC hosted a playoff series Liberals thought a policy of official bilingualism would ensure that Quebec separatism would never gain traction, that short-term deficit spending would stimulate the economy so much that the ensuing debt would be paid from the profits, and that invoking The War Measures Act in peace time made sense. Let's just hope there are no riots out in British California!
This game seems to have been another defensive battle. The Dinos gave their supposed 3rd goaltender Kris Lazaruk the start. Not that he is a bad goaltender, but it is impossible for a CIS team to get enough playing time for three goaltenders. Taylor Stefishen, another of the Calgary late recruits, notched his 11th goal in 19 games.
The home stretch starts this weekend. There are three races: Manitoba, Sask and Alberta are fighting for first; UBC and Calgary are fighting for fourth; and Lethbridge and Regina are fighting for 6th.
Unfortunately, there are no games remaining between Manitoba, Sask and Alberta. So their battle will be one of avoiding losses to the bottom four. Sask and Alberta each have 32 points, but have only 6 games left. Manitoba has 30 points and has 8 games left. So, the Bisons have the edge. Here's how the various series shape up.
MANITOBA BISONS (14-4-2*, 1st in OHT34) LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (5-14-3, 27th in OHT34)
Friday, January 27th, 8:00 p.m. CST @ Lethbridge
Saturday, January 28th, 8:00 p.m. CST @ Lethbridge
The Bisons are off to Lethbridge needing a sweep, which is never easy on the road. The H0rny Ones may not have a great home record, but 4 of their 5 wins have been at home. They also have had 2 wins over Sask.
The H0rny Ones have been a disappointment this year. They sputtered in the pre-season and it continued into the regular season. But they are clinging to a 3 point lead over the Banjo-Cats in the race for the 6th and final playoff spot.
In past years Lethbridge has bounced back from a slow start to close strong and make a playoff run. They started the new year with 3 points against Sask (including the suspended game) and 2 points against Calgary. But last weekend the Evil Monkeys thrashed them.
Last weekend Bison goaltender (and former Pronghorn) Jesse Deckert did not dress for either game. Joe Caligiuri played well in both games. Also, captain Mike Hellyer did not dress on Saturday. Jordan Davis, who had only dressed for 8 games, is no longer listed on the roster.
The Evil Monkeys should have a tougher task than the Bisons when they head out to British California to face the Tweety-Birds. No preview story has been posted yet, so maybe check the UBC site link as you read to see if it is now up. The Birds are coming off a big sweep of Calgary in the race for 4th. So now that they are heading home, they need to perform if they want to host a quarter-final.
Just as this is usually where UBC falters, this is usually where the Monkeys bury a lesser opponent. This series should tell us a lot about whether UBC is ready to make a jump. The audio link to CITR has not worked lately. So attempt it at your peril.
Th lowly Banjo-Cats are off to Calgary in the battle of the sinking ships. Regina has somehow managed to squeeze out a few points this season. This despite being badly outplayed all the time. If Calgary cannot sweep this series they will likely be resigned to 5th place.
The Bisons walked into Lethbridge and picked up a decisive win. The Bisons built a 6-2 lead mid-way through the 3rd period. But a pair of late goals by the H0rny Ones made the scoreline less embarrassing. This was a fairly dominant performance on the road for the Herd.
Blair Macaulay scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season, and his linemates (Tyler Dittmer and Jered Walker) also had goals of their own. Additionally, Dane Crowley scored his 3rd (shorthanded), Brenden Rowinski had his 8th, and Ian Duval his 9th.
Scratched from the Bison line-up were Chad Erb, Mike Hellyer, Tyler Schmidt, and Jesse Deckert. Jordan Davis was back on the roster and played for the first time since November 12th, when he also faced Lethbridge.
Saturday's rematch can also be seen on-line at canadawest.tv. I saw the end of Friday's game. I wish the Bisons had white numbers on their road jersey. The Bisons and Sask should both work on that for next year.
The Dinos were obviously tense about this one. They were desperate and the lowly Kittens had to be a free square on the bingo card. The Dinos played very defensively (shots were 33-12). What can you say about a Regina team that mounts only three shots in a 3rd period when they enter down 2-1?
This was a tight one throughout. UBC is a typical middle-of-the-road team in a season where the others have all disappointed. The shots were 29-25 for the Evil Monkeys. UBC must be thought of to have some chance at salvaging a split on Saturday night. The win gives the Monkeys first place, by two points over the Bisons and Mutts. However, the Bisons have two games in hand, and the Mutts now have one.
I was able to follow this one on canadawest.tv. It looked like the Bisons were on their way to a sweep which would have given them sole control of first place. Instead, they blew a 4-2 lead by surrendering three unanswered third period goals, including two goals 26 seconds apart in the final two minutes. The Bisons had won each of their first three games against the H0rny Ones by three goals every time.
While it was not a stellar performance from Joe Caligiuri in the Bison goal, a collapse like this cannot be pinned on one player. It seemed that in the 3rd period the Bisons took things for granted.
The events of the weekend also spell out a fundamental truth in the CW: It is never easy to sweep a series on the road.
Pity the Banjo-Cats. They were not exactly striking fear into their conference foes before Christmas, now they have surrendered. Don't let the scoreline fool you. They only had 10 shots on goal the entire game. (Calgary had 38 shots on poor old Lucas Gore.) Yet it was 0-0 after two periods. The Dinos needed the sweep in order to keep their hopes alive to catch UBC for 4th place.
I was able to listen to this one after the Bison game ended. Both games in this series were very close, so a split was in order. The loss for the Evil Monkeys keeps them 2 points ahead of the Bisons. But the Bisons have 2 games in hand over them, and hold the tie-breaker, meaning that they remain in the driver's seat in the race for first.
The Monkeys have their final bye week next weekend, whilst UBC will be in Manitoba.
Alberta sits 2 points ahead of both Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but have played 24 games to the 22 played by Manitoba and Sask. Therefore, Alberta could fall to third while watching the out-of-town scoreboard. It is ironic that both Manitoba and Sask will be hosting the two teams fighting it out for 4th.
OUT EAST:
Jan. 28
Windsor 3 Laurier 1
Acadia 3 UPEI 4 - OT
Moncton 0 Saint Mary's 5
St. Thomas 2 StFX 1 - OT
Dalhousie 2 UNB 3 - OT
RMC 1 Nipissing 2 = OT
McGill 2 Carleton 4
York 2 Guelph 3
Western Ontario 4 Lakehead 0
UOIT 2 Waterloo 5
Queen's 0 Toronto 1
U-SPORTS/CIS BOOKMARKS
The Bisons are off to a much faster start with recruiting news than last year, so time to start the 2019-20 thread! Hopefully last years health issues are behind me so I can keep on top of my favourite hobby this season.
As usual, the opening post has the links needed...
This is the pre-season table and is NOT a ranking. The regular season starts Wednesday in the AUS and Friday in the CW. The OUA waits until October 2nd.
I have not double-checked all results. Sometimes games are added and not publicized very much.
There were also a lot of cancelled games. UNB...
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U-SPORTS/CIS BOOKMARKS
This season's new thread is starting a lot later than usual. Not only the Bisons, but the whole CW, are off to a slow start on new announcements. Well, that changes a bit because the schedule came out today. So I open with a 2-parter. This post has the links, which will...
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