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University of Calgary Athletics

Brock Nixon

Dinos rally for shootout win

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WINNIPEG - Brock Nixon's shootout winner capped a come-from-behind 2-1 victory for the University of Calgary Dinos Friday night at the Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg.

BOX SCORE


The action was fast and fierce right out of the gate, as the Dinos put a lot of pressure on the Bisons early.  A scary moment for Manitoba in the first minute of the period when a Calgary player charged the net and fired one over Steve Christie's left shoulder and off the crossbar.

The Bisons recovered nicely and soon found themselves in a power play postion, after Luke Egener took a two-minute minor for interference.  Manitoba fought hard, but couldn't capitalize on the power play.  Both teams were throwing big hits in the first, and with five minutes left to play, Manitoba's Chad Erb took an interference penalty, and the Dinos would go on the power play.  But strong goaltending by Christie kept the scoreboard blank as the first period came to and end.

The second period was just as evenly matched as the first, with both teams aggressively trying to end the scoring drought.  It was Manitoba who would find the back of the net, though, as Tyler Dittmer managed to squeak one past Calgary goalie Dustin Butler.

 Less than a minute after the go-ahead-goal, the Bisons found themselves down by one off a boarding call.  But their defence came up big, fighting off the man advantage, but they would take another penalty late in the period, allowing Calgary to enjoy a 20-second power play to start the third period.

Manitoba managed to kill off the power play to start the third, but they couldn't keep Calgary away for long.  Cory Pritz found the back of the Bisons' net off an assist by Reid Jorgensen, tying things up at one apiece.  From that point on it was all Bisons, as they dominated the ice at both ends, but just couldn't find that go-ahead-goal.

They battled to gain breakaways, 2-on-1s, but couldn't seem to find the marker.  Outshooting Calgary by a formidable amount, the third period came to a close at a 1-1 tie, and both teams would have a five minute 4-on-4 overtime period to try and get the job done.

The overtime period did not begin well for the Bisons, when Jeremy Schappert took a holding penalty a little over a minute into the period.  Things looked grim for Manitoba, now playing a 4-on-3 against Calgary, but key saves by Christie and a solid defensive effort saw the Bisons kill the penalty off and go back to work.  Both teams couldn't get much done in the overtime period, and as the five minutes drew to a close, the score was still tied 1-1, and we would look to a shootout to find a winner.

Jared Walker would shoot first for Manitoba, and he was stopped by Butler. Jorgensen shot next for Calgary, and after a well-placed deke found Steve Christie face down on the ice, it looked as though the Dinos would pick up a point - but a beautiful last-ditch leg save by Christie kept the shootout even.

Captain Mike Hellyer would shoot next, and he fumbled the puck in close, no point. Nixon was up for Calgary, and he came in hard and fast on Christie, putting the puck top shelf and netting a point for the Dinos.  It was all up to Blair Macaulay to keep Manitoba in the game, but a swift poke check by Butler ended the shootout and the game, as Calgary picked up the 2-1 victory over the Bisons.

At the final buzzer, although they didn't win the game, Manitoba managed to outshoot Calgary 39-21.

The Dinos and Bisons close their weekend series Saturday night.

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