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CALGARY – Defenceman Giffen Nyren scored from the seat of his pants to complete the comeback and secure a 3-2 shootout victory for the No. 9-ranked University of Calgary Dinos over the University of Manitoba Bisons on Saturday night at Father David Bauer Arena.

“Sometimes when you get going that fast it's hard to slow down, coming in with speed is a move I work on in practice sometimes and it can throw the goalie off,” explained Nyren of this shootout goal and unofficial 10th shot on net.

The win improves the Dinos to 5-3-0, while the Bisons have their three-game win streak snapped and are knocked down to  a record of 4-3-1.

“We have lost a bit of our way, we have to always remember to bring the work ethic necessary every night,” said Calgary bench boss Mark Howell. “It wasn't there last night and it wasn't there to start tonight, we got desperate and urgent after going down 2-0 so it leaves lots to improve on, but we are happy to get the win.”

Jacob DeSerres got his second start of the year for Calgary and had what was possibly his best appearance as a Dino, stopping 25 of 27 attempts. The second-year Calgary netminder was opposed by Jesse Deckert who made 30 saves on Friday.

“[DeSerres] has worked very hard recently with Brad Kirkwood our goalie coach, I thought he battled hard, made some huge saves and was our MVP tonight,” described Howell.

The Bisons opened the scoring at the 4:02 mark of the first period. A shot fired towards the goal by Jeremy Schappert took a deflection off Matthew Lowry and past DeSerres. The opening marker gave Lowry his second of the year.

The Dinos spent the majority of the first frame in their own end as the defence stepped up and held the team within one. The Calgary forwards' best opportunities of the period came while on the power play.
                                                                                                                                                                                 
Proving to be a better second and third period team to date, Calgary came out and was much better in the middle stanza. The Dinos registered 12 shots in the period against Deckert, but were unable to solve the fifth-year goaltender through 40 minutes. DeSerres was equally as good at the opposite end of the rink for Calgary. The former Memorial Cup champion made a number of highlight reels stops off Manitoba rebounds to keep the game within striking distance for his club.

The Bisons doubled their lead at the 3:03 mark of the third. Tyler Feakes pounced on a loose puck at the left side of the net where he beat DeSerres for his first of the campaign.

The comeback started for the Dinos just over a minute after the Bisons went up 2-0. During a scramble in front of the Manitoba net, Brock Nixon and Tyler Fiddler both had chances to bury the puck before Nixon eventually scored his fourth of the season.

The game would be tied by Calgary with less than five minutes left in regulation. A great seeing-eye shot by Nyren was turned away by Deckert, but Max Ross was in the right place to record his first CIS goal in timely fashion from the slot.

Neither four-on-four nor three-on-three overtime could break the knotted score as the Dinos' penalty kill helped ensure the game went to a shootout.

Nixon lit the lamp on the first attempt of the shootout and was followed up by Nyren on the Calgary side. Manitoba's second shooter Blair MacAuley found the back of the net, but third shooter Lowry couldn't beat DeSerres as the Dinos picked up the extra point.
                                                                                         
After taking a week off, the Dinos will play a pivotal home-and-home set against the Alberta Golden Bears on Nov. 9-10. The set will start in Edmonton before coming to Calgary the following night. The Bisons return home for games on Nov. 9-10 versus the Lethbridge Pronghorns.

-UC-