The #7 Bison women's hockey team ends the first half of the 2016-17 Canada West conference season by hosting the Mount Royal Cougars on December 2-3 weekend at the Wayne Fleming Arena (U of M Fort Garry campus). Puck drop versus the Cougars will be 7 p.m. CT on Friday and 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. Tickets available at the Arena door.

The Bisons look to continue their winning ways at home as Manitoba 3-1-1-1 record so far at Wayne Fleming Arena this season. The Herd has played well at home in conference play (W 5-1 vs. Reg. on Oct. 20/16; W 7-1 vs. Reg. on Oct. 21/16; OTW 1-0 vs. Cgy. on Nov. 4/16; W 5-0 vs. Cgy. on Nov. 5/16; SOL 4-3 vs. Alb. on Nov. 18; L 1-0 vs. Alb. on Nov. 19).

Heading into the two game weekend series, Manitoba sits in second place in the Canada West standings entering the weekend with a 7-3-3-0 record for 28 points (three points given out for regulation win) and one point ahead of third place Saskatchewan. Mount Royal is sixth in the eight team conference as they hold a 4-8-0-2 record for 14 points and lost last two games.

This is the second weekend series between the two teams this conference season. Earlier in 2016-17, the Herd swept Mount Royal on the road (W 2-0 on Oct. 14/16 and W 2-1 on Oct. 15/16).

Manitoba and Mount Royal have four players in the Canada West Top 15 scoring. For the Bisons, third year forward Lauryn Keen is tied for second with 15 points (six goals, nine assists), third year forward Alanna Sharman (5g, 5a) and third year forward Venla Hovi (4g, 6a) are tied for 11th with ten points. For Mount Royal, Kaitlin Willoughby (6g, 5a) is tied for ninth with 11 points.

In the nets, Bison fourth year netminder Rachel Dyck has played in 10 conference regular season games and in first place in Save Percentage at .935, tied for first with seven conference wins, first with three shutouts and second in Goals Against Average with 1.42. Bison fourth year goalie Amanda Schubert is first with 1.34 GAA, tied for fifth with .923 Save Pct., tied for seventh with three conference wins and tied for sixth with one shutout.

Bison Notes: Manitoba has allowed the lowest goals against so far this conference season at 21 and scored the second most goals in Canada West with 42, heading into the weekend series.