WINNIPEG – Less than 24 hours after falling to the University of Manitoba Bisons (8-9-1) in the first game of their weekend series, the Mount Royal Cougars (11-5-2) responded with a 3-2 win over the Herd on Saturday afternoon at Wayne Fleming Arena.

The Cougars came into the Saturday matinee matchup sitting fourth in the Canada West standings with the Bisons five points behind them in fifth. The win helps Mount Royal leave with the same seven-point advantage over Manitoba that they began the weekend with.

"I felt we played more to our identity today than we did last night," commented Mount Royal head coach Bert Gilling. "Our team focus is on pressuring the puck all over the ice. I saw way more of that from our guys today."

Despite the loss, the Bisons remain five points up on the UBC Thunderbirds in the standings who occupy the sixth and final playoff spot.

"Although we didn't get the result we wanted today I felt we play some very good hockey this weekend," stated Bisons head coach Mike Sirant.

"Mount Royal is a very good hockey team. After the way we played them in these two games, our group has the confidence and belief that we can be a hard team to play against in this league."

Unlike the night before it was the Bisons who found the scoresheet first in this game.

From just inside the blue line, Nate Halvorsen found first-year Tony Apetagon in alone who beat Cougar goalie Riley Morris high over the glove for a 1-0 Manitoba lead.

The Bisons had a chance to extend their lead to two but Morris made a fantastic save on a three-on-one to keep his Cougars team down by just one. The save turned out to be key as Mount Royal's Keegan Iverson put a rebound past Bisons goalie Tyler Brown to tie the game at 1-1 before the first period finished.

Second-year Cougar Brandon Arnold gave his squad a 2-1 lead just prior to the seven-minute mark of the middle frame. Arnold beat Brown on the glove side after Jamal Watson found him with a cross-ice pass. 

Morris came up with several more key stops before Ryley Lindgren scored a power play goal to extend the Mount Royal lead to two. Lindgren's goal on the man advantage came after the Bisons' Liam Schioler received a two-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct for boarding.

The Bisons' Veloso added a late tally with 13 seconds remaining in the third to make it 3-2 but that was a close as it got. The Cougars killed off the rest of the clock and earned the victory.

Next weekend, Mount Royal returns home to host the Alberta Golden Bears for a pair of games on Jan. 10-11. Manitoba will also be in Alberta next weekend for a two-game series against the Calgary Dinos starting Jan. 10.