EDMONTON – The Manitoba Bisons (9-15-4) couldn't pull off the upset this weekend, but are post-season bound nonetheless, as they lost 5-2 to the No. 4 ranked Alberta Golden Bears (23-5-0) at Clare Drake Arena.
The loss means the Bisons will head into the Canada West playoffs as the six-seed and will play a best-of-three quarterfinal on the road against the Calgary Dinos. Manitoba and Calgary split their season series 2-2.
On Saturday, Alberta locked down the top seed in Canada West with the win. They got goals from five different players as Nolan Volcan, Dawson Davidson, Lucas Nickles, Noah Philp and Tyler Soy all found the back of the net.
Manitoba got the tenth goal of the season from fifth-year defenceman Adam Henry and another from blue liner Brady Pouteau. First-year goalie Riley Lamb stopped 27 of 31 shots sent his way.
Following a dominating win over the Bisons last night, Alberta wasted no time continuing their strong play, scoring three before the first period was over. To open the scoring, the Bears found themselves with a two-on-one opportunity as they entered the offensive zone with Soy threading a perfect pass to Volcan in front for the goal, beating Lamb short side.
Not done there, the Bears were still on the hunt with Grayson Pawlenchuk sending a tape-to-tape a pass, finding a lane in front of the Bisons net for Davidson, who was waiting on the doorstep to tap it in for a 2-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, the Bears where back on the board with Nickels streaking in on another two-on-one and going far post for a tap in goal, allowing Alberta an easy 3-0 after one period of play.
However, Manitoba came out in the second with fire, controlling a majority of the play with Pouteau breaking the goose egg for Manitoba when his point shot tipped off a Bears defender, finding its way in for the Bisons first goal of the weekend.
Still looking to close the gap, Manitoba's Liam Schioler and Dylan Thiessen teamed up to create an odd man rush with Henry's wrist shot finishing the play and bring the Bisons within one.
Unsatisfied, the Bears made quick work on the Power play with Philp's one-timer finding the back of the net, giving the Bears a two-goal cushion midway through the second frame.
With playoff positional standing implications on the line, the Bisons emptied their next with less than two minutes to play, but it was too little, too late as Soy sealed the deal with an empty netter to end the game.
If the Bisons beat the Dinos in the quarterfinals, they would be Edmonton-bound once again to play these Golden Bears in the conference semis in two weeks' time. Game 1 of the Bisons' post-season push is set for 8 PM CT on Friday, February 14.
