CALGARY – On a night where the Calgary Dinos came out slowly and finished even slower, the Manitoba Bisons took full advantage, taking a convincing 3-0 victory Friday night in Calgary.
The Bisons received a fantastic effort from their goaltender Steve Christie, who earned the shutout while swatting 33 Dinos shots to the way-side. Christie, who leads Canada West in total saves, fought off seven Calgary power plays, and was unperturbed by pressure from a variety of Dinos skaters.
The Dinos found no luck on their power plays all night, failing to create any significant opportunities in the Manitoba zone. Perhaps their best chance of the night came late in the second period, where Bisons defensemen Pierre-Paul Lamoureux caught Dinos forward Reid Jorgensen in the mouth with a high-stick, drawing blood. On the resulting four minute power play, the Dinos could only muster one shot on goal, firmly handing the Bisons the momentum for the rest of the game.
Appearing listless and frustrated throughout the night, Calgary proved unable to reward their goaltender Dustin Butler after a great effort in net. Butler's timely saves kept a 3-0 game from becoming much worse, stopping a total of 32 Manitoba shots on the night.
Consistently active offensively throughout the night, Manitoba had many chances to make the result much more lopsided. The Bisons were unable to capitalize on many odd-man rushes and several open nets and received more than a couple ill-timed bounces in the crease.
Calgary Head Coach Scott Atkinson was disappointed with the collective Dinos effort on the night all the while crediting the Bisons work ethic in defeat.
“We were terrible,” he said. “We took them much too lightly, and assumed that we could walk in there and take the win as if taking candy from a baby. We were way too weak, and we were outworked and outhustled the whole night.”
The Dinos did manage a respectable shot tally on a night where nothing went their way. Assistant captain Brett O'Malley led the Dinos attack, directing four shots on the Bisons goal.
The Bisons received goals from forwards Calin Wild, Kyle Howarth, and Cole Hunter on the night, and improved their season record to 4-5-2.
The Dinos, who drop to 5-4 with the disappointing loss, will need to come up with some answers quickly, as the Bisons crash the Father David Bauer yet again on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7 p.m. in the rubber match.
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