The travel weary CIS No. 3 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies had to battle hard to earn a very tough 7-6 win over the Manitoba Bisons in Day 2 action at the TBaytel Varsity Cup Tournament Sunday afternoon in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The two-referee system in use for the tournament proved to be a tough adjustment for both teams and special teams were in the forefront. Five of the six Manitoba goals came on the powerplay while Saskatchewan scored two with the man advantage and two shorthanded.
Manitoba had a 2-1 lead after the first and the game tied at three apiece early in the second. Midway through the second; the Huskies started clicking offensively and scored four straight to head into the third with a 7-3 lead. However, the penalty parade bit the Huskies as they drew nine straight penalties and the Bisons drew within two goals. Manitoba pulled their goalie and then got within one with just over 10 seconds left but that was as close as they could get.
Saskatchewan netminder Russel Monette earned the win for the Huskies while Jeff Christie took the loss for Manitoba; playing the first two periods in the Bisons goal. Ben Lobb took over in relief to start the third and did not allow a goal.
Leading the way offensively for the Huskies was Curtis Patterson with a pair of goals. Singles came from Zach Sim, Shaun Vey, Chris Durand, Evan Schafer, and Steven Gillen. Durand scored an NHL caliber goal; undressing a Manitoba defenseman and then somehow lifting the puck over the shoulder of goaltender Christie from an impossible angle.
Manitobas goals came from Greg Beller, Jared Walker, Calin Wild, Mark Olafson, Ryley Dudar, and Nick Hotson.
Shots on goal were 33-27 in favour of Manitoba.
Manitoba was 5-13 on the powerplay while Saskatchewan went 2-7 with the man advantage.
Saskatchewan now has three points in the round robin portion of tourney play and are in first place; awaiting the result of the Lakehead vs. Laurier Day 2 night game. Manitoba has one point in round robin play after two games.
Manitoba plays CIS No. 5 Laurier in the TBaytel Varsity Cup Day 3 afternoon game while Saskatchewan takes on No. 7 Lakehead in the night game.
Live stats for all TBaytel Varsity Cup games can be found at http://www.leaguestat.com/tbaytelvc/varsitycup/en/stats/schedule.php
All games are vidcast live with ordering info available at http://events.news-cast.com/events/Lakehead
Video game reports for the night games can be found at www.thunderwolves.ca and www.thunderwolveshockey.com
TBayTel Varsity Cup Schedule:
Dec. 28:
7:30 pm EST: Lakehead vs Laurier
Dec. 29:
4:00 pm EST: Manitoba vs. Laurier
7:30 pm EST: Saskatchewan vs. Lakehead
Dec. 30:
7:30 pm: Championship Final