WINNIPEG – The third week of Canada West men's hockey action brought the No. 2 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies to the Wayne Fleming Arena to take on the Manitoba Bisons on Friday October 29.

With the two teams tied at 3-3 late in the third period, Huskies captain Gordon Ballhorn wired a shot from the top of the circle, over the glove of Manitoba goaltender Jeremy Link. The goal proved to be the game winner as the visitors knocked off the Bisons, 4-3.

"It was a great shift by our forwards to keep the puck in," said Ballhorn. "I saw one of their forwards had fallen over, that created some space for me to walk in and get the shot on net."

Link faced a flurry of shots and scoring chances, making a total of 31 saves on the night.

"Our guys were blocking shots, playing hard on the penalty kill and doing all the things we needed to win that game," commented Link. "It's a game of inches. They throw a lot of pucks on net, we know what we have to do to beat them tomorrow."

The visiting Huskies got off to the perfect start with a goal just 11 seconds into the game. Third-year Donovan Neuls came down the wing into the Bisons zone and beat Link with a low shot on the glove side. Saskatchewan added to their lead later in the period with a goal from Carter Folk, beating Link with a similar shot to the one from teammate Neuls.

With the visitors in control, the Bisons finally sparked their offence late in the opening frame. Just nine seconds into a power play, a shot from Dylan Thiessen squeaked under the arm of Huskies goalie Roddy Ross, and Manitoba's Tony Apetagon corralled the loose puck to put the Bisons on the board. With ten seconds left on the clock in the first period, Brett Davis also jammed the puck passed Ross to tie the game at 2-2.

Tight defensive play and plenty of blocked shots was the story of the second period. The hosts finally broke the deadlock, once again late in the period. While on the power play with 27 seconds left, Manitoba forward Linden McCorrister tipped a shot from Devon Skoleski over the shoulder of Ross to give the Bisons their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Shortly after the midway point of the final period, Saskatchewan tied the game at 3-3 after the puck took an awkward bounce on a dump in. Manitoba's Link got caught out of his net trying to play the puck when it ended up out in front, leaving the Huskies' Jaxan Kaluski an open net to tie the game. With 5:17 on the clock, Saskatchewan took a 4-3 lead with the goal from Ballhorn and went on to seal the victory.

Both teams will be back at Wayne Fleming Arena tomorrow at 3 p.m. to finish off the two-game weekend set.