The Bison men's hockey team hosts the #6 Alberta Golden Bears on February 10-11 weekend at the Wayne Fleming Arena (U of M Fort Garry campus). Puck drop versus the Bears will be 7 p.m. CT on Friday and 7 p.m. CT on Saturday. This is the last home weekend series in regular season in the 2016-17 Canada West conference season. Tickets available at the Arena door.

Since the start of the second half in January, Manitoba has gone 7-2-1 and has earned points in all four conference games at home. Manitoba is 6-4-2 so far at Wayne Fleming Arena (W 3-2 vs. UBC on Oct. 28/16, W 6-4 vs. Lethbridge on Nov. 12/16, W 5-2 vs. Saskatchewan on Nov. 26, W 3-0 and W 5-4 over Regina on Jan. 6-7, W 4-3 over Calgary on Jan. 27/17).

Heading into the two game weekend series, Manitoba sits in fifth spot in the Canada West standings entering the weekend with a 13-11-2 record for 28 points and has clinched a playoff spot. The Herd is three points ahead of sixth place Lethbridge. Saskatchewan is first with 40 points, Alberta is second with 36 points in the eight team conference. The Bears hold a 17-7-2 record so far this season.

This is the second weekend series between the two teams this season. Earlier in 2016-17, the Herd went 0-2 against Alberta (L 6-3 on Nov. 18/16 and L 5-2 on Nov. 19/16 on the road). Manitoba is seeking to duplicate last season's success at home over the Bears as the Herd swept Alberta during the conference regular season.

Manitoba has two players in the Canada West Top 20 scoring. Fourth year forward and captain Jordan DePape (11 goals, 11 assists) has 22 points in 19 games, good for a tie for 16th place while second year Brett Stovin (5g, 17a) also has 22 points. Rookie forward Remi Laurencelle (6g, 14a) is second in rookie scoring with 20 points while Stovin is tied for third in conference assists with 17 and rookie Quinton Lisoway is first in Canada West with a +17 plus/minus rating.

In the nets, Bison third year netminder Byron Spriggs has played in 20 conference regular season games and in sixth place in Goals Against Average with 2.85, fifth in Save Percentage at .912 and tied for second with 11 conference wins. Bison second year goalie Justin Paulic has 3.75 GAA and with a .880 Save Pct in six games.

Bison Notes: Graduating players will be recognized prior to Saturday's game.