One night after an 8-1 victory, the No.1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears men's hockey team wound up on the losing end of a 5-4 score on Saturday, November 30 as they split their weekend series with the Manitoba Bisons at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

For the second Saturday in a row, the Golden Bears found themselves trailing by a goal in the third period, but where other teams had failed to get the win over Alberta, the Bisons held off a Golden Bear comeback to earn their fifth victory in the past six games. Goaltender Joe Caliguri, a fourth-year puck stopper from Winnipeg, was the big reason the Bisons leave Edmonton with a split as he stopped 35 shots on Saturday for his fifth win of the season.

Manitoba also did all the little things right, despite only having five defenders available all weekend. Following Friday night's 8-1 blowout loss to the Bears, the Bisons responded on Saturday with four gritty goals, as well as a beauty goal, and strong defence. In the third period, with Alberta pressing, the Bisons did a good job standing up at the blueline, blocking shots and disrupting passing lanes.

Alberta, meanwhile, looked a little out of sync on the night, as they opted to dress three new players in the line-up, and had to overcome a poor start, as well as fight back from three deficits just to stay in the game. Fifth-year forward Torrie Dyck notched a pair of goals for Alberta, while Jordan Hickmott and rookie T.J. Foster added singles. Fifth-year centre, and team captain, Sean Ringrose picked up two assists, and freshman goalie Luke Siemens made 19 saves in the loss.

Scoring for Manitoba was Luke Paulsen, Brock Sutherland, Dylan Kelly, Paul Ciarelli and Jordan DePape.

It was Kelly and DePape that got the good times rolling for the visitors as they scored goals four minutes apart to open the game with a 2-0 Manitoba lead. Kelly picked up his fourth of the season when he shoveled a loose puck past Siemens at the six minute mark, and then DePape scored the goal of the night when he finished off a two-on-1 at the ten minute mark with a lovely backhand deke that went roof-daddy.

But, the quick-strike Golden Bears offence tied the game just over four minutes later when the Bisons gave the No.1 ranked power-play in CIS men's hockey back-to-back opportunities. Jordan Hickmott cut the score to 2-1, thanks to his ninth of the season, and the Torrie Dyck scored 1:39 later to tie the score at 2-2 after 20 minutes.

Not to be deterred and wasting little time, the Bisons retook the lead just 34 seconds into the second period when Ciarelli beat an unsuspecting Siemens from the doorstep.

Dyck then clawed the Bears back to a level score when he banked his second of the game, and fifth of the season, at 1:56 of the second. But, while on the PP, Manitoba struck for glory at 5:05 when Paulsen shoveled another loose puck through a maze of bodies and past Siemens for the 4-3 lead.

Before the period could end however, Foster scored the weirdest goal of the night when he spun 180 degrees at the top of the left face-off circle and simply slid the puck towards goal, where Caliguri never saw the ice-level shot, and it trickled past him to make it a 4-4 game going into the final frame.

After applying waves of pressure to start the third period, including a 8-0 run of shots for Alberta, the game went down the tubes for the Evergreen and Gold at 9:47 when Sutherland threw a wrist-shot on the Bears goal, and it missed everyone en route to the mesh for the game winner.

Moments before that, Siemens made an incredible save from his stomach, swatting away a shot on goal with the back of his hand, but the Bears were unable to clear the zone, and Manitoba remained in possession and scored the game winner just a few plays later.

The Golden Bears head into the Christmas break with a 14-2-0 record and the second place position in the Canada West standings. Manitoba will open the New Year with a 7-8-1 record and the fifth spot in the conference. The Bears return to conference action on January 10-11 with a home series against the Saskatchewan Huskies, but they will play the NAIT Ooks in a home-and-home series on January 3-4 first. The Bisons, meanwhile, get back to Canada West action on January 3-4 when they travel to Saskatoon for a two-game set against the Huskies.