VIRDEN, Man. - In the back half of a neutral-site doubleheader, the Manitoba Bisons came from behind to pick up a 4-3 overtime win over the Regina Cougars in front of 500 fans at Tundra Oil & Gas Place in Virden, MB.
The game was hosted in conjunction with Birdtail Sioux First Nation, led by Chief Tréchelle Bunn, a two-year Bison alumna. Chief Bunn also performed a ceremonial puck drop prior to the game. The Herd's
Grady Lane took the faceoff as he returned to his hometown and Junior A arena.
After a quiet first period, the Cougars opened up the scoring at 11:33 of the second period, as Carson Whyte picked up his fourth goal of the season, with Ben Roulette and Kade Runke picking up their third assists of the season. The Bisons would respond less than two minutes later, as
Eric Alarie potted his third of the season, with first-years
Brandon Funk (third) and
Erik Pastro (first) picking up the assists.
The Bisons would start seeing flashbacks of Friday night, as Jordan Borysiuk picked up his second goal of the season from Carson Whyte (fourth) and Kade Runke (third) at 9:24 of the third period. As the goal was still being announced, Ben Roulette would pick up his second goal of the season at 9:38 from Landen Gulutzan (first). There would be three more goals once again, however they would all be for the Bisons, as with the goalie pulled,
Eric Alarie would net his second of the game from conference scoring leader
Skyler Bruce and
Lucas Brennan (seventh each) at 17:23 before Brennan would send the game to overtime with his third goal of the season at 18:34, from Bruce (eighth assist, 14th point) and
Dawson Pasternak.
Eric Alarie would send Manitoba fans home happy as he finished off the hat trick at 4:22 of overtime, assisted by Pasternak (seventh assist).
Matthew Kieper picked up the win, improving to 4-1-0 on the season, making 27 saves on 30 shots. Dylan Ernst took the hard-luck overtime loss in his season debut, stopping 23 of 27 shots.
The Herd (7-3-0) return to action on Thursday, Nov. 12, as they visit the Calgary Dinos (2-7-1) at 8:00 MBT. Fans can catch the action live on
CanadaWest.tv.
