Box Score By Joey Traa
 
WINNIPEG - With a logjam atop the standings of the Canada West conference, every game in 2014 has playoff implications for the Manitoba Bisons women's hockey team.
 
On Friday, January 17, the Bisons showed they are gunning for a top spot, defeating the Calgary Dinos 3-2 at the Wayne Flemming Arena, fending off a late charge from the Dinos, and improving their record to 13-5-3, while Calgary drops to 9-11-1.
 
Manitoba had a comfortable 3-0 lead with just over ten minutes left in the game, but the Dinos wouldn't quit, as this game went right down to the wire. Bisons head coach Jon Rempel was not pleased that his team let Calgary back in it, but overall was happy with how the Bisons played as a whole.
 
"I think we played well fundamentally," says Rempel. "Tomorrow we'll have to give it all 60 minutes, and play the right way. If we play the right way, then good things will happen.
 
The first period started off with fireworks, when just less than a minute in, Bisons forward Kyleigh Palmer came streaking in wide on a 3-on-1, finding teammate Rachèle Bosc alone in front, who fired it into the open cage. Despite the action early on, the rest of the period was played mostly in the neutral zone, with neither goaltender having to stand up to any exceptional scoring chances.
 
In the second period, the Dino's began to frustrate the home team, tightening up defensively, and getting their stick on a high percentage of Bisons pass attempts. Despite the best saves of the period coming from Calgary goaltender Amanda Tapp, it was the Dino's who actually outshot the home team, and managed to outplay Manitoba in the second.
 
After Maggie Litchfield-Medd was hauled down late in the second, the Bisons used their third period powerplay to gain some much-needed momentum for their team. Just seconds after the Dinos killed the penalty off, the Bisons finally capitalized, as Litchfield-Medd roofed a rebound in front of the net, giving her team the two-goal lead.
 
The Bisons continued pressing and just seconds later, Manitoba crashed the net on a break-in, and it was Kayleigh Weins who got the last touch, putting it into the back of the net for the 3-0 Bison's lead.
 
Calgary however, refused to be walked over, as the Bisons third goal lit a fire under them as with just over ten minutes left, Jessyka Holt popped it in a rebound after a Janelle Parent slapshot bounced Amanda Schubert, cutting the lead down to two.
 
A little over a minute later, Dinos forward Calaine Inglis came in on a partial break, and fired a wrist-shot shortside making it just a one-goal game.
 
To make things even more exciting, with just over two minutes left in the game, the Dinos found themselves on a powerplay, and generated a flurry of chances. Thankfully for the Bisons, Schubert made the save of the night with about ten seconds remaining, sprawling across the crease and robbing the Dinos of the game-tying goal.
 
Manitoba and Calgary will face-off one more time this weekend, as they play at the Wayne Flemming Arena on Saturday, January 18 at 1 p.m. C.S.T.