FIRST PERIOD DOOMS BISON IN 4-2 LOSS ON 11/9
By: Andy Zilch, Bloomington Bison
Coralville, Iowa – The Bloomington Bison couldn’t recover from allowing four goals in the first period in a 4-2 loss to the Iowa Heartlanders at the Xtream Arena on Saturday night.
The Heartlanders began a four-goal first period with a power play strike from Zach Dubinsky. His second of the season was assisted by Jules Boscq and Andrew McLean 5:54 into the game. Gavin Hain extended the Iowa lead at 7:40 with his second of the season. The goal was assisted by Louka Henault and Matthew Sop. Penalty problems doomed the Bison once more as the Heartlanders converted on the power play again at 8:05. Sop tallied his fifth of the year from Ryan Sandelin and Gavin Hain. The goal would see the end of the night for Bison netminder Hugo Ollas who started the game. Mark Sinclair took over in net for the remainder of the game. Eddie Matsushima revived the Bison with a shot from the slot to cut the Iowa lead to a 3-1 margin. His second of the season was assisted by Gavin Gould and Chongmin Lee at 12:25. The period’s scoring closed with the Heartlanders regaining their three-goal lead with one minute left. Yuki Miura scored his second of the season from Boscq and McLean.
The second period showcased more defensive structure with only six shots for each team. The Bison converted on the power play halfway through the frame to tighten the gap by a 4-2 score. Gould scored on a one-timer for his first of the season from Dalton Duhart and Carter Berger.
Neither team found the back of the net in the final frame as the score stood at 4-2 favoring the Heartlanders at the final horn. Iowa outshot the Bison 14-5 in the last frame and 32-17 in the game. The Bison power play went 1-3 while the penalty kill went 2-4. Ollas took the loss with three saves on six shots. Sinclair stopped 25 of 26 in 48:47 of work. Iowa goaltender Samuel Hlavaj took the win with 15 saves on 17 shots.
The Bison resume action on Friday in Cincinnati against the Cyclones with faceoff set for 6:35 p.m.
Single game seats are on sale now as the Bison welcome the Cincinnati Cyclones next Saturday, November 16 at 7 p.m. Pricing starts as low as $20! Visit bloomingtonbisonhockey.com, ticketmaster.com or call (309) 965-HERD to purchase tickets. To receive all the latest Bison news, sign up for the newsletter on the Bison webpage!
