By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Pronghorns men’s hockey team earns weekend sweep over Bisons

Nov 12, 2018 | 8:43 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The Canada West conference bye week might not have been more important for any team than the Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s hockey team, after getting key players back in the lineup and shoring up their systems ahead of a big weekend against the Manitoba Bisons.

The Pronghorns stood tall on Friday, Nov. 9, with four different players tallying goals en route to a 4-1 win.

Lethbridge opened the scoring when Torrin White, just back from injury, netted a power-play goal just shy of the six-minute mark in the 1st period.

Later in the period, Manitoba goaltender Byron Spriggs came up huge making a desperation save on a breakaway to keep the score at 1-0 for Lethbridge after one period.

The Pronghorns would get their second goal of the game, this time from Ryan Chynoweth, with less than three minutes remaining in the frame in the 2nd period. 

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Their third goal of the game came from Dalton Sward, his first tally of the season, on a nice feed from Sam McKechnie.

The Bisons ended Pronghorns goaltender Garret Hughson’s shutout bid with about eight minutes remaining in the 3rd, but that’s where the comeback would end as Russ Maxwell buried an empty-net goal with 1:36 remaining to cement the game.

Hughson was outstanding in the crease, turning aside 39 of 40 shots the Bisons fired on net.

Then on Saturday, Nov. 10, the Pronghorns swept a weekend series for the second time this season, when they defeated the Bisons by a score of 6-3.

Unlike the previous night, it was the Bisons who would find the back of the net first when Thomas Freeman buried one past a sprawling Hughson.

Just shy of eight minutes into the opening frame, Lethbridge would answer when Michael Grant scored his third goal of the season, with help from Artisom Kalashnikov and Ryan Chynoweth.

The Bisons answered quickly, just 45-seconds later, with a goal of their own thanks to an incredible solo effort by Lukas Skrumeda who went inside-outside before scoring glove-side on Hughson to make it 2-1.

With just under five minutes left in the frame, Dalton Sward would get his second goal of the season to even the score once again, and that’s how the 1st period would end.

The 2nd period started out with a Sam McKechnie breakaway, but Byron Spriggs was up to the task and made the save.

Shortly after the teams traded chances on the odd-man rush, Clint Filbrandt broke the deadlock with his second goal of the season on a tic-tac-toe play with Kalashnikov and Logan Mick setting up the play.

Mick’s playmaking continued a few minutes later, as he fed Jordan Roy for his third goal of the season on a 2-on-1 odd man rush to give the Pronghorns a 4-2 lead heading into the 3rd period.

Both teams would continue to trade chances at either end of the ice early in the 3rd, but defence would prevail for both teams, resulting in an uneventful first half of the third.

Just over halfway into the period, the Bisons found the back of the net off a Lethbridge turnover at the far blue line, where Thomas Freeman fed Jeremey Leipsic for his second of the season, beating Hughson five-hole to cut Lethbridge’s lead to 4-3.

The Pronghorns didn’t sit back and defend, however, as Torrin White scored his second of the season off a pass from Justin Valentino.

White also sealed the game with an empty-netter with a minute left in the game.

Garret Hughson came up big once again for his team, stopping 52 of the 55 shots he faced.

With the pair of wins this weekend, the Pronghorns improve to 4-6-0 on the season.

Lethbridge will be back at the Nicholas Sheran next Friday when they take on the University of Alberta Golden Bears.