Box Score

Lethbridge – After sprinting out to a 5-0 lead the University of Manitoba Bisons cruised to a 6-3 victory, Friday night, over the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
 
Despite digging themselves a hole from which they could not recover, the ‘Horns showed some resiliency in the second period and clawed back to make it a game of it but, in the end, the short handed ‘Horns just didn’t have enough gas to mount a comeback.
 
Manitoba goals were scored by Del Cowan with two, Dylan Kelly, Matthew Lowry and Jeremy Shappert.
 
Cass Mappin, Tim Campbell and David McMullen netted markers for Lethbridge.
 
Both teams came out hard in the opening minutes of play, looking to get an early edge. A great backhand chance by Mappin was kicked wide by the Manitoba keeper Jesse Deckert and his line-mate, Clayton Cumiskey, following close behind, wasn’t able to get his stick on the juicy rebound.
 
Penalties were a recurrent theme in tonight’s matchup. With a total of 52 minutes handed out between the two teams, both had several chances to work with a man advantage.
 
With ‘Horns captain Dan Iwanski in the box for roughing, Cumiskey raced on a breakaway, shorthanded, but his effort was no match for Deckert, who swiftly denied the streaking forward.  
 
Cowan opened the scoring for Manitoba at 7:37. After an unsuccessful attempt by James Henry, he found himself in perfect position beside the net and quickly lifted the puck high glove-side past ‘Horns netminder Damien Ketlo.
 
With just less than seven minutes remaining in the first, the Bisons would strike again; this time from Kelly, assisted by Paul Ciarelli and Jesse Paradis. And it didn’t stop there. Less than two minutes later, at 14:36, Lowry snuck a soft wrister through the legs of the Lethbridge net-minder, making it three unanswered markers for the visiting team.
 
Despite some solid efforts by Lethbridge’s Tim Campbell and Brent Henke, the ‘Horns wouldn’t be able to crack Deckert in the first period, with Manitoba slightly out-shooting the ‘Horns, 15-13.
 
Shappert added to the Bisons tally early in the second, at 4:55, from Lowry, and Duvall notched another soon after, his eighth of the season, which meant Manitoba had now widened the gap to 5-0.
 
Lethbridge’s Dylan Tait entered the game, relieving Ketlo, at 6:54 in the second period.
 
A pair of quick power play goals from the home team helped build some much needed momentum that would hold for the remainder of the period.
 
A four-on-three opportunity put the ‘Horns on the score sheet at 10:55 as Campbell netted his first CIS goal. McMullen added another quick one, soon after; flying into the Bison’s zone with speed, he unloaded a high wrister that beat an unsuspecting Deckert.
 
Travis Bobbee had a great chance, attempting to respond for Manitoba, but his hard shot from the blue line was gloved down confidently by Tait, who stood tall between the pipes.
 
With the ‘Horns caught on a change, Del Cowan also had a great chance but was robbed by Tait.
 
As the third period neared the halfway mark, Mappin put the ‘Horns within two with a great shot, low glove-side that he tucked into the corner of the net, past Deckert. But that would be as close as the ‘Horns would come.
 
Cowan added his second of the night, an empty net goal, in the final minute of play.
 
Ketlo finished the night with 14 saves on 19 Bison shots, while Tait did not surrender a goal in relief, turning away 19 shots. For the Bisons Deckert made 31 saves to earn his 13^th win of the season.
 
With this loss, the ‘Horns fall to 1-20-2 while the Bisons improve to 14-5-4. Game two of the weekend series goes tomorrow night at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Puck drops at 7pm and the game will also be telecast live on www.canadawest.tv