Box Score The University of Manitoba's Alana Serhan tallied a hat trick to lead the No. 9 ranked Bisons to a 5-2 win over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night in Saskatoon's Rutherford Rink.
Serhan scored her 10th, 11th and 12th goals of the season at 9:09 in the second, and 10:31 and 19:34 in the third period.
With the win, Manitoba improves to 15-5-1 on the season. Saskatchewan drops to 11-8-2 and extends its losing skid to five games.
The game had big implications on the race for the Canada West women's hockey postseason. Entering the weekend, just five points separated first through fourth place. Manitoba trailed first by just one point. Saskatchewan sat in fifth and needed a win to get back in the race to a home playoff date.
Box Score
Manitoba's Lauryn Keen opened the scoring just five minutes into the game on a scramble in front of the Huskie netminder Cassidy Hendricks at 5:02.
Fifth-year alternate captain Chelsey Sundby notched the game beating Manitoba goalie Rachel Dyck at 13:10 in the first but Manitoba answered quickly to start the second period. Kayleigh Wiens tallied at 3:25 in the frame and Serhan scored the Bisons' third goal at 9:09.
Serhan scored her second of the game at 10:31 in the third period on a partial breakaway. The puck slid into the net five-hole on Hendricks.
Saskatchewan cut the lead in half at 11:46 in the third on a Lauren Zary goal but the Huskies couldn't muster a comeback.
Serhan scored the empty net insurance goal at 19:34.
Dyck finished the game making 17 saves for Manitoba, while Hendricks stopped 22 at the other end of the ice for Saskatchewan.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at Rutherford Rink. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. and can be viewed on canadawest.tv
