WINNIPEG – Jessie Haner's early second period tally served as the eventual winner on Friday night's game at 'The Flem, as the Manitoba Bisons upset the No. 3 nationally ranked Mount Royal Cougars 2-1 to improve to 4-7-1-3 while the Cougars fell to 13-3-0-1.
 
Manitoba held the Cougars shotless for nearly half the first period, the first shot however, was a dangerous one on a three on one entry into the zone, with Emily Shippam making the left pad save on Gabby Lindsay. Mount Royal continued to gain momentum, going to the power play at 10:13. They cycled the puck well on the man advantage and Jerzey Watteyne found space to skate with it between the two circles and fired a shot over the glove of Shippam to open the scoring for the visitors.
 
Two more powerplays — one for either side — didn't result in any goals and it seemed as though the Herd would trail going into the second. That changed in an instant though, when a  stick lift from Manitoba in the top of the zone helped move the puck up to Julia Bird, who rifled a perfect shot over the left pad of Anderson to tie the game with 57 seconds left in the first. 

"I thought we were ready to go right from puck drop. We brought a level of detail and a connected team game that was great to see," said Bisons head coach Jordan Colliton on the team's impressive start.
 
The Herd carried their late period momentum into the 2^nd frame and quickly capitalized. At 17:33, Haner danced her way through multiple Cougar defenders and found the top shelf over the shoulder of Anderson for the eventual game winner.
 
"I have to shoutout the assistant trainer on the bench. They had the gate ready to go for me, so I came off the bench and tried to take it to the net and it went in," said Haner through a smile as she retold her first goal of the season.
 
The rest of the period saw impressive defensive structure from the home team that stymied the Mount Royal high-powered offence. They forced plays to the perimeter, let Shippam see the puck cleanly and batted away any rebounds sitting in the crease. That, combined with solid o-zone time and outshooting the Cougars 11-4 in the middle frame gave the Herd plenty of confidence to take into the 2^nd intermission.
 
The Cougars came out in the third desperate to tie the game. The pressure was at times relentless, but Shippam's resolve in the crease was impeccable. A scramble in front at 7:56 could've spelled disaster but Shippam kept on top of her crease, made the saves she had to and covered up for the whistle.

The Cougars earned a five on three advantage late in the frame, but blocks from the defence and saves from Shippam with no rebounds, kept the Herd ahead.
 
"We needed that kill so bad. Playing desperate hockey and coming up with that kill was the key to late in the game," Haner said on the impact of special teams tonight.
 
The Herd continued to weather the storm and despite a late game scare, the defence bent but didn't break, with Shippam earning 25 saves in the victory.
 
Colliton said the game was the most consistent she's seen all year.

"Other games where we might've played for 50 minutes and lost by one goal and today, we played 60 minutes and we got the win."
 
The Herd rematch with the Cougars tomorrow afternoon at 2pm at 'The Flem.