WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Bisons welcomed the Alberta Pandas to the Wayne Fleming Arena on Friday, November 26 for the first of two games over the weekend. Manitoba entered the game with a record of 7-1-2-0, sitting second in the Canada West standings while Alberta held a record of 4-3-0-1 to sit in fifth.
Despite allowing one of the strangest goals you can see in a hockey game, the Bisons were able to come from behind and defeat the Pandas by a final score of 2-1. With the teams tied at 1-1 nearing the midway mark of the final period, Manitoba's Molly Kunnas scored what eventually was the game-winning goal to propel her team to victory.
Manitoba's goaltender Erin Fargey recorded a 17 saves in the win. Her counterpart, Halle Oswald, tallied 25 stops.
The Pandas were the beneficiary of a Bisons miscue to open the scoring in the first period.
At the 8:39 mark, Manitoba had their goalie out of the net during a delayed penalty when defenders Brielle Dacquay-Neveux and Camryn Gillis couldn't connect on a pass in their own end. The puck slid past Gillis' stick and into the empty Bisons' net. Alberta's Payton Laumbach was given credit for her third goal of the season. The two teams played to a stalemate for the rest of the period.
With Manitoba on their second power play of the period, forward Halle Edwards scored to even the score at 1-1. Sarah Dennehy got credit for the primary assist after finding Edwards alone in front. While in tight with just the Pandas goaltender to beat, Edwards made a nice move to earn her fifth goal of the season 7:16 into the middle frame.
Shortly after the Edwards goal, Samantha Sichkaruk came close to giving her Bisons squad the lead. Sichkaruk made a nice move in the neutral zone to get around a pair of Alberta defenders but fired her shot high and wide. The visitors had Manitoba pinned in their own end during a late power play opportunity but were unable to capitalize.
Just prior to the midway mark of the third period, Manitoba's Vanessa Klimpke stripped a Pandas defender of the puck and fed a short pass to an open Kunnas who beat Alberta goalie Oswald, giving the Bisons their first lead of the game.
Fargey made a huge glove save on a late 2-on-1 for the Pandas to keep her team ahead by one with less than five minutes left on the clock. The visitors mustered a few more scoring chances before time ran out but were unable to solve Fargey.
The victory improves Manitoba's record to 8-1-2-0 while Alberta falls to 4-4-0-1.
Both teams will be back at Wayne Fleming Arena tomorrow at 3 p.m. to conclude the two-game weekend series.
