WINNIPEG— With Saturday night's 2-1 win over the third seeded UBC Thunderbirds, the second ranked Manitoba Bisons swept the Canada West semifinals and are headed to compete for the conference title for the second straight season.

Coming off an intense matchup from the previous night's contest which saw it all, including a called-off goal, a penalty shot and a clutch last-minute goal from the hosts, this game was an all-or-nothing battle at Wayne Fleming Arena for both teams. 

"We weren't willing to take no for an answer. They got a little taste of it there last year, obviously with that right there," said Bisons head coach Sean Fisher, gesturing to the 2017-18 U SPORTS championship banner on the wall. "It was a group that wanted to get back there, and were pretty motivated to do so, willing to go through a war like they did today."

Karissa Kirkup scored the first of her two markers on the night before the opening frame was three minutes old, converting on a breakaway by tucking a backhand deke passed T-Birds netminder Tory Micklash to go give the Bison's a 1-0 advantage. Jenai Buchanan picked up the lone assist on the play.



Later in the first, UBC earned two power plays, but Manitoba's penalty kill thwarted all chances at evening the score.

"That's a big, strong, tough physical team," Fisher said. "They're highly skilled, they can make people miss, and they can score goals. It was a war."

Mere seconds into the middle period, Ireland Perrott put a shot past Manitoba goaltender Lauren Taraschuk with help from a Logan Boyd set up to even the score at 1-1. Less than a  minute later the Bison's answered back with the man advantage, just twenty seconds into their power play it was Kirkup adding her second tally of the contest thanks to a determined effort on a goal mouth scramble to take the lead and conclude the scroing on the night. Lauryn Keen and Lauren Warkentin combined for the assists on the go ahead marker and game winner.

After the two early goals the rest of the second period was fairly quiet, at the midway point UBC looked to threaten by taking advantage of a poor line change from Manitoba but a potential three-on-zero opportunity was snuffed out by an offside call on the visitors.



UBC ran into penalty trouble in the third in taking three minors but Micklash was sharp between the pipes in turning aside all nine shots she faced in the frame and 21 of 23 overall on the evening. With their season on the line the 'Birds weren't able to generate much offence in only earning two shots ahead of seeing their 2018-19 campaign come to a close.

The Bisons will go on to face the top-seeded Alberta Pandas next weekend in the Canada West Finals. 

"I'm very, very excited to have the opportunity," said Bisons fifth-year forward Karissa Kirkup. "I'm very lucky to be a part of this great group." 
Of the clash ahead for the Bisons, Fisher said it'll be a tough matchup. 

"They're a good team. They've only given up 24 years goals this year through 30 games," he said. "We'll have to find ways to score, that will be key for us."
The puck drops on Friday night in Edmonton at the Clare Drake Arena, and Manitoba will be looking to repeat as Canada West champions. You can catch the best-of-three series live on CanadaWest.TV.