WINNIPEG – A three-goal second period helped the Manitoba Bisons over-take the Trinity Western Spartans 5-2 in the third and final game of the Canada West quarterfinals at Wayne Fleming Arena. 
Manitoba moves onto the semis for the first time since 2018-19, where they will face UBC on the road beginning this Friday at 7 pm MST. They came back to win games two and three against TWU, the former of which went to triple overtime. 

The Herd gave up the first goal of the game, but an Ashley Keller tally tied the game in the final 12 seconds of the first period. Manitoba used that momentum to take the lead on the power play early in the second, courtesy of Brenna Nicol, and they didn't trail the rest of the way. 

"That's the biggest growth mindset for our group this year. Last year we had lots of games where we'd get one then we'd get blown out so for us we've been through that experience with resetting after a goal against and the biggest piece for us was the energy on the bench regardless of what happened," said interim head coach Jordy Zacharias. 

"It was okay let's bring this back down to neutral, reset whether it's good or bad."

The Bisons and Spartans started the pivotal game three showing they had a lot to lose. The opening five minutes of the period featured gritty forechecks, hard stick checks and a lack of dangerous scoring chances.

Trinity Western would have their strongest offensive output of the series outshooting the Herd 12-5. 

That offensive pressure would eventually draw a penalty from Dana Goertzen at 13:54 to send the Spartans to the powerplay. No goals would be scored however a dangerous deflection from Olivia Leier off a Kelsey Ledoux point shot would be handled by Emily Shippam.

Trinity Western however used this powerplay and the ensuing chances it caused to open the scoring shortly afterward. A seemingly harmless shot from the top of the left circle by Kyra McDonald would find its way through the defence and under the left leg of Shippam to give the Spartans the lead.

The Bisons showed no quit and despite being outshot at a rate of two to one, the Herd would answer back late. 

With 12.3 seconds left in the period Julia Bird would find Ashley Keller alone in the slot. Keller fired the puck off the leg of Trinity Western defender Presleigh Giesbrecht and with the added help of a Norah Collins moving screen, found the back of the net behind netminder Kate Fawcett.

"Julia made a good play to me, I was in the slot she just moved it quickly to me, I was just trying to put it on net and had some good traffic in front and went in," said Keller.

The second period would mark an explosion of offence for the Bisons.

Trinity Western would find themselves shorthanded due to a Chayce Kullman interference infraction at 17:43 and the Bisons would make them pay.

A shot wide from Norah Collins would bounce off the end boards towards the far post and Brenna Nicol would pot her first of the postseason on the ensuing scrum to make it 2-1.

Shortly after, a tripping minor to Louise Fergusson at 14:59 could've spelled panic for the Herd but turned instead to a dagger for the home team.

At 13:38, Sophia Anderson used a strong handle of the puck and effective footwork in the neutral zone to create a shorthanded two-on-one with Sadie Keller. Anderson cut wide to the goalies right before sliding a pass through the defender to Sadie Keller at the top of the crease who finished the play over the shoulder of Fawcett for a 3-1 lead. 

Fawcett who entered the game with a combined 107 of 110 saves in the opening two games would be pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots in game three. Olivia Davidson entered the net in relief.

The Bisons wouldn't let up on the new netminder and at 3:55 left in the middle frame would attack the Spartans with another deadly two-on-one rush. This time Aimee Patrick would fire it into Davidson's body but with the puck trickling behind her, captain Kylie Lesuk would bang home the rebound to make it 4-1.

"It was nice just to get rewarded for the work that you do, which can be anyone on this team. I was just in the right spot at the right time," Lesuk said. 

"[This win} means a lot, to come in here, we haven't won a playoff game in the last five, six years since I've been here so honestly it's a really great feeling and came down to everyone in the room for us today." 

The Bisons would ride out the rest of the second period in neutral and minimize Trinity Western opportunities to end the period. 

Kate Fawcett returned to the net to start the third period, ending Olivia Davidson's night with five saves on six shots.

"She's been outstanding all year, me pulling her was nothing to do with her ability. It was completely due to she got pelted yesterday, she saved over 100 shots in the first two games, she's tired so I didn't want to see the game get away on her with the physical fatigue and mental fatigue on her," Spartans head coach Peter Hay said on the decision to pull Fawcett and return her to the net for the third period.

"She got a bit of a rest but wanted to go back in and be a true warrior, [I'm] proud of her for that." 

Trinity Western wouldn't go away quietly. At 16:29 left in the third Kyra McDonald would intercept a pass at the blue line and shoot five hole through Shippam on an odd-player rush for her second of the night to cut the lead to two.

Despite an early scare in the third, the Bisons held their composure, stayed out of the box and proceeded to grind down the game.

With 2:15 to go, Julia Bird would put the game on ice with an empty net goal to make it 5-2. 

The Bisons outshot the Spartans 27-22 in the game.