In their first series at home since November 15-16 against Lethbridge, the University of Manitoba Bisons men's hockey team (9-9-2) swept the Mount Royal Cougars (6-11-1) with a 5-3 win on Saturday, January 11 afternoon at the Wayne Flemming Arena (U of M campus).

Manitoba got goals from Craig Scott, Aaron Lewadniuk, Ian Duval, Jesse Paradis, and Luke Cain. Joe Caligiuri stopped 27 shots for his second straight win. Tyler Fiddler scored twice, and Devin Gannon added another for Mount Royal. Dalyn Flette made 17 saves in a losing effort.

It was a bit of a lethargic start to the matinee, but both teams quickly woke up. Manitoba's Craig Scott buried some garbage after a scramble in front of the Mount Royal net to break the deadlock at 12:39 of the period. 

Mount Royal had 55 seconds of 5-on-3 time towards the end of the first, but were unable to take advantage.

With things beginning to heat up towards the end of the first, the frantic pace continued in the second with five goals in the first ten minutes of the frame. Less than a minute in, Fiddler used his speed to sweep into the Manitoba zone and lift the puck glove side on Caligiuri, knotting things up at one.

Manitoba quickly got the lead back with a great tic-tac-toe play on the power play from Manitoba's top line with Lewadniuk notching his team-leading 10th goal of the season from Duval and Paradis at 4:03.

For the Cougars' turn with the man-advantage, things did not go as well. Shorthanded, Duval took advantage of a backhand clear by Paradis, and raced down the right side of the ice to execute a fake shot wrap-around on Flette at 5:57 of the second. 

Under two minutes later, it was Paradis' turn, as he received a beautiful pass from Duval to make it 4-1 Manitoba.

"Duval and Paradis had really good games both nights," head coach Mike Sirant said following the game. "They showed a lot of leadership, scoring big goals for us, and in just their overall play."

With Manitoba holding all the momentum, Fiddler decided to take things into his own hands, as he skated end to end, through the entire Manitoba team and moved to his backhand to beat Caligiuri at 9:26 of the period.

In the third, Mount Royal cut the Bisons' lead to one, with a shot from the point deflected in-front by Gannon at 7:33 of the frame. Despite a push from Mount Royal in the final minutes, Cain added the empty-netter to seal the win for Manitoba.

With the win, the Bisons move to .500 on the season. Men's hockey will travel to #1 Calgary next weekend for a series against the Dinos.