Canada West Semi Final: Bisons strike first in series opener

by Mitchell Clinton, U of Manitoba Sports Info Assistant

WINNIPEG - The University of Manitoba Bisons women's hockey team took some inspiration from the women's Olympic team picking up the gold medal, and channeled it towards picking up a 2-1 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies to pick up a 1-0 lead in the best of three Canada West semi final.

With the teams looking at overtime, the Bisons put some pressure on the Huskies after killing off a penalty late in the third. Nellie Minshull was the beneficiary of a Chantal DeSpiegelaere slapshot ending up on her stick, and she made no mistake, notching her first of the playoffs to give the Bisons the win.

Bisons head coach Jon Rempel is already looking forward to game two.

"I think we're going to have to play harder tomorrow. The second one is always the toughest to win," he said. "Saskatchewan played a solid road game tonight. These are two evenly matched teams and it will take our best effort (on Friday) to win."

The third period was a back and forth affair, with both teams taking only a single penalty. The Bisons penalty came with five minutes left in the period, and after killing it off, the Bisons Chantal DeSpiegelaere took a slapshot from the point that went off a body in front, and ended up on the stick of Nellie Minshull in front, who buried it, giving the Bisons a 2-1 lead with just under two minutes left to play. Bisons goaltender Stacey Corfield made a huge pad save on a Huskies slapshot with 12 seconds left to preserve the win.

The tone was set early for the second period, as both the Bisons Erica Holmes and the Huskies Laura Connor took roughing after the whistle penalties in the first minute of the period. Shortly after that, the Bisons Rachele Bosc put the Herd on the board, putting a shot five hole on Huskies goaltender Vanessa Frederick. Near the 10-minute mark, Shaye Christiansen broke in on Corfield, but her chance was taken away when she was hooked from behind by the Bisons Chantal DeSpiegelaere. But referee Ashley Desjardin let play continue on. After back to back hooking penalties on the Huskies Julie Paetsch, she put the puck on net and teammate Sara White batted it out of mid air to tie the game at one. The goal broke Bisons goaltender Stacey Corfield's 211-minute shut out streak over the Huskies in the postseason, dating back to the 2008 playoffs. The score would stay this way heading into the third period, even though the Bisons continued to outshoot the Huskies 24-8 through two periods.

The opening period of the playoffs for both teams was controlled by the Bisons in the early going. The Huskies Breanne George collided with Corfield halfway through the period, but Corfield recovered quickly, making a couple stops on the next shift. The Huskies then got into a bit of penalty trouble, as Nicole Peppler and Kristin Bews both took hooking penalties in the last nine minutes. During both power plays, the Bisons were able to control the puck well, putting together a couple chances, but nothing got past Frederick. The teams would head into the dressing room after 20 minutes with the score tied at zero, even though the Bisons outshot the Huskies 14-2.

Game two goes Friday at the Max Bell Arena. Puck drop is at 3:00 p.m. CT. Should a third game be necessary, that game will go at the same time on Saturday.