VANCOUVER — The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds men's hockey team suffered a 4-3 overtime loss on Friday, February 20 against the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons. The best-of-three quarter-final series is now tied 1-1 with the deciding game played on Saturday, February 21 at 9 p.m. CT .
 

Although the Thunderbirds were first to score and had the lead on three separate occasions, they were outplayed and unlucky, both of which were most apparent in the 44 seconds of overtime that resulted in a game-winning goal by the Bisons Darren Bestland just off the glove of goaltender Eric Williams.
 

The Thunderbirds opened up scoring again, this time netting the only tally of the first. At 6:38, Neil Manning rimmed the puck around the back boards from the blue line to Jessi Hilton, who received it at the other side and passed it through a pair of Bisons skates to Nick Buonassisi. Buonassisi then fed it to Luke Lockhart in the slot who unleashed a rocket past Manitoba goalie Byron Spriggs. The goal was Lockhart's first of the post-season; the assists were Hilton's first and Buonassisi's third. 1-0 is how things stood through 20 minutes of play.
 

In the second Manitoba turned up their game. The Bisons first goal of the night came at 6:11, when Shaquille Merasty found himself with the puck off of a pass from Channing Bresciani, firing as he crossed the blue line. The goal was Merasty's first of two points for the evening.
 

Less than two minutes later, Cole Wilson would temporarily steal back the lead, but it would not be enough to quell Manitoba until the end of the period. Entering the Bisons' zone,Manraj Hayer fed him the puck for his second assist of the post-season and Wilson's first goal. However, with 38 seconds left, Bisons Brett Dudar scored a power play goal off a rebound, after a thrilling split-save from Williams in net. 2-2 was the score after two periods of play.
 

UBC was quick to take back the lead in the third, but to no ultimate avail. Following a rush on Spriggs led by Anthony Bardaro, Hayer corralled a Wilson rebound to put the 'Birds on top 3-2 for his second point of the night, third of the playoffs. Soon after though, Josh Elmes of Manitoba lobbed in a knuckle ball from the faceoff circle, that ricocheted off of the crowd in the crease to even the score, and keep it tied at three into overtime.
 

The Bisons ended overtime prematurely for the Thunderbirds, merely 44 seconds in. Darren Bestland scored on a tumbling puck that went off Williams' glove and trickled into the net to give the Bisons the victory, ending extra time and leveling the best-of-three series 1-1.
 

With both teams' seasons on the line, the matchup on Saturday is sure to be a riveting one; the winner will advance to the Canada-West semifinals the following week, another best-of-three series. Puck drop tomorrow is slated again for 7 p.m. PT, again at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver.