WINNIPEG – One night after handing the No. 3 nationally ranked Mount Royal Cougars just their third regulation loss of the season, the Manitoba Bisons gave MRU all they could handle again. The hosts had a one-goal lead on two occasions, going into the first up 2-1, but the visitors responded, scoring three unanswered for the 4-2 win in an end-to-end thriller that featured just three penalties and 52 combined shots.
 
Ava Metzger scored the game-winner for Mount Royal with just under three minutes to go in the second period, with MRU hold off a late Bisons push for the victory.
 
The win was Mount Royal's 14^th of the year, as they remained atop the Canada West East Division standings. The Bisons' three-game win streak was snapped with the loss. They have 12 points at the midway mark, just four behind Saskatchewan for a playoff spot.
 
Three goals were scored just over a minute after each other in the back half of the first period, breaking open a back-and-forth offensive affair that featured 20 shots on net.
 
Manitoba opened the scoring 13:43 into the opening frame, courtesy of a no-look back-hander from behind the net by Norah Collins for her third goal of the year.
 
The tally was the result of numerous hard-working shifts in the offensive zone by the Bisons. The likes of Julia Bird, Sadie Keller, Kelsey Huibers, Shayna Bannister, Brenna Nicol, Sophia Anderson and Dana Goertzen all won puck battles to keep the puck in MRU territory, while tiring out the opposition for multiple minutes. A face-off win eventually went to Bird, who then found Collins for the no-look beauty.
 
The Cougars pressed right after and got the equalizer at 14:57. Much like the Herd, the visitors kept the puck in on multiple shifts and were rewarded, as the puck cycled to rookie Isa MacPhee, whose slap shot found the back of the net thanks to a double screen by Allee Gerrard and Kiana McNinch for her first U SPORTS goal.
 
But Manitoba immediately answered. True freshman Claire Moorman banked the puck off the boards in the D zone, and it bounced perfectly to Keller just past the MRU blue line, and she made no mistake on a wrist shot top corner for her second goal of the year.
 
The line of Nicol, Keller and Bannister continued to cause problems for MRU in period two, including an odd player rush where Bannister and Keller pushed the pace, with the former finding a latter for a great chance that went just wide.
 
On the other end, it was MRU who flashed their speed, tying the game up with 8:54 to go in the middle frame on an end to end rush from Jerzey Watteyne. Her back-hander took a Cougars bounce and into the back of the net for her seventh goal of the year.
 
Both goalies did well to keep the game level as the period progressed. Anderson and Bird had great chances for Manitoba, which were stopped by the pad and blocker of Mount Royal goalie Katherine Holan, while Emily Shippam denied Lyvia Butz from in-close on a wrist shot.
 
But it was the Cougars who went into the third with the lead. Watteyne and Metzger kept the puck in Manitoba's end, and their hard work was rewarded, as the biscuit eventually came to Metzger on a rebound in front, which she put home in the final three minutes for a 3-2 lead.
 
Watteyne had another great chance early in the third for her side, streaking in on a two-on-one, but her shot went just wide as the two sides continued to press offensively. Manitoba's efforts eventually resulted in a MRU penalty in the final five minutes, but the penalty killing unit did their job, keeping play to the outside.
 
The hosts pulled their goalie in the final minute and a half, and nearly tied the contest with 20 seconds left, as the puck banked off the end boards to Bird by the side of the net, but she was denied by the pad of Holan to preserve the win. Mount Royal scored an empty netter late to cap the scoring.
 
Both teams are now off for the winter break.