EDMONTON – With two goals in eight seconds, the No.1 University of Alberta Golden Bears men's hockey team began a five-goal second-period outburst en route to an 8-1 victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons, Friday, November 29 night at Clare Drake Arena.

Five different players had multi-point nights for the Evergreen and Gold, third-year forward Brett Ferguson potting a pair of goals while third-year Kruise Reddick, fourth-year Johnny Lazo, and senior Torrie Dyck netted a goal and an assist each. Fifth-year rearguard Ben Lindemulder picked up three assists while third-years James Dobrowolski and Travis Toomey, as well as team captain Sean Ringrose, added singles.

Taylor Dickin, a transfer from the University of North Dakota, scored the lone goal for the Bisons to extend his current point streak to five games. The Winnipeg native now has five goals and nine points in that span. 

Manitoba came into the game on a four-game winning streak but was unable to generate any scoring chances early, the Bears gaining momentum with every shift as they applied constant pressure in the Bisons' zone.

After stopping Reddick and former Edmonton Oil King Jordan Hickmott in tight midway through the first period, fourth-year netminder Joe Caligiuri had no chance seconds later when Lazo took advantage of a perfect screen to slap a shot low on the gloveside to open the scoring at 10:58.

Manitoba got that one back at 11:31 on a fluky play, however, when Dickin pushed the puck towards the Alberta goal and it ricocheted off Bears' rookie forward T.J. Foster into the net.

Yet the home team didn't relent on the offensive pressure in the opening frame, outshooting the visitors 17-5 and putting two shots off the post and crossbar.

On a man-advantage in the second period, Dobrowolski came in off the wing and put a wrister over Caligiuri's glove and off the post to reclaim the Alberta lead at 4:32 of the middle frame.

In the next eight seconds, Ferguson pushed the puck back to Lindemulder off the face-off, the NCAA transfer passing it to his defence partner Ian Barteaux, who then gave it back to Ferguson on a partial breakaway, quickly making his way into the low slot before putting the puck through Caligiuri's five-hole.

Brimming with confidence, the Bears poured on the offence, Ringrose getting his fourth of the season on the power-play when he grabbed the rebound off a Jordan Rowley point shot and backhanded it over the outstretched Bison netminder for the 4-1 lead.

Dyck notched Alberta's fifth goal when he got a hold of the puck along the sideboards and put a long wristshot on net that eluded Caligiuri, who came into the contest with a 1.75 goals against average in his last four games.

With 2:21 left in the second period, Ferguson earned his team-leading 18th point on the goal of the game, grabbing the puck in the neutral zone before heading wide across the Manitoba blueline, turning a Manitoba defender inside out on a beautiful deke, and cutting to the net as he put the puck inside the far post.

Leading on the scoreboard 6-1 and outshooting the opposition 39-7 after 40 minutes, Alberta managed to chase Caligiuri from the Bison goal, replaced by sophomore 'tender Deven Dubyk for the final 20 minutes, having no luck on a one-time deflection by Toomey in front at the 9:30 mark, the former Seattle Thunderbird's second on the season.

Reddick, scoring his second goal in as many games, tied Hickmott for the team lead of eight on the season with a shot low to Dubyk's stickside to round out the scoring.

The Bears finished 2-6 on the man-advantage while the Bisons went 0-3. 

Alberta, now 14-1-0, and 6-8-1 Manitoba continue the two-game weekend series on Saturday, puck drop going at 6 p.m. MT.

Game notes:

Two goals in eight seconds falls just short of the team record in conference play, Bill Ansell scoring two goals in seven seconds (7:31 and 7:38 of the first period) on February 14, 1986…the fastest time between two goals in all-time Golden Bears history remains five seconds when Adam Morrison scored at 8:27 of the first period, followed by Dan Wiebe at 8:32, in game 3 of the Canada West hockey final on March 12, 1989.

No.1 Alberta Golden Bears vs. Manitoba Bisons

Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton

Final:

              1          2          3           Final

UofA-    1          5          2              8

UofM-    1          0          0              1

AB goals: Brett Ferguson (2), Johnny Lazo, James Dobrowolski, Sean Ringrose, Torrie Dyck, Travis Toomey, and Kruise Reddick

MAN goal: Taylor Dickin