Men's hockey drops final pre-season contest 3-2

The Brock University men’s hockey team took on the University of Manitoba Bisons in their final pre-season game of the year. The Bisons who earned a 4-1 victory over the Badgers yesterday, came out flying earning a 1-0 lead only 3:25 into the first period.

The Bisons opening goal game on the power play as Rick Wood (Rivers, MB) fed a back door pass to Mike Hellyer (Brandon, MB) for the one-goal advantage. Brock answered with a few high tempo shifts from Dan Dooley (St. John, NB), Stephen Miller (Thunder Bay, ON), and Gary Friesen (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON). The quick moving defensemen, Miller, broke into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 and fed Derek Brochu (Welland, ON) in the slot to tie the game 1-1.

In the final minute of the first period, the Bisons would regain their lead as a dump into the Badgers zone took a strange bounce off of the glass and landed on the stick of Chris Benias (Winnipeg, MB) all alone in front of the gaping net.

Manitoba’s power play was back to work at the beginning of the second period and after 12 second of work notched their second goal of the game. This time it was Wood who capitalized on a rebound off of Hellyer’s shot, extending the Bisons lead to 3-1.

Ryan Allen (Fort McMurray, AB) answered for the Badgers, showing some offensive flare and earning his second goal of the pre-season. Both teams played a high tempo and physical third period, but due to solid goaltending neither team was able to score ensuring the final remained 3-2 in favour of the Bisons.

The Brock Badgers will return to the Seymour Hannah Centre on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 7:35 p.m. for their regular season home opener against the University of Waterloo Warriors.

Scoring Summary

First Period
3:25 Manitoba – Mike Hellyer (Jared Walker, Greg Beller) PP
12:56 Brock – Derek Brochu (Stephen Miller)
19:35 Manitoba – Chris Benias (Kip Workman, Stewart Thiessen)

Second Period
0:32 Manitoba – Rick Wood (Mike Hellyer, Greg Neller) PP
18:04 Brock – Ryan Allen (George Bradley)

Third Period
No Scoring