Hockey Manitoba would like to congratulate Team Manitoba on their strong performance in the University of Manitoba-Bison Pre-season challenge, which was held over the weekend of September 26-28, 2003 at the Max Bell centre.

Team Manitoba opened the weekend with a strong win over the host team, The University of Manitoba Bisons, posting a score of 4-2. Team Manitoba was able to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead by the 1:52 mark of the first period with the other 2 goals coming in the second period before the Bison’s tallied 2 in the third. The other game of the opening night saw Shattuck-St. Mary’s edge the highly favoured University of Regina 4-1.

In their contest of the tournament, Team Manitoba went up against last years fifth place finisher at the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) National Championships, The University of Regina. The final score was 4-1 for the strong squad from Regina. In their second game of the day, Team Manitoba faced off against Shattuck-St. Mary’s a fellow high school aged team, where they were unable to surmount an early Shattuck lead and fell to the team from Minnesota with a score of 2-1. Shattuck-St. Mary’s was also able to hold on for a 2-2 tie with The University of Manitoba. The final game of a busy Saturday saw The University of Regina hit their stride with a 6-2 win over The University of Manitoba.

The final day of the tournament saw Team Manitoba face off against their Manitoba counter parts, The University of Manitoba in the 3rd place game. The teams started off by exchanging first period goals before Team Manitoba scored 4 unanswered goals to make the final 5-1. The championship game saw The University of Regina double up on Shattuck-St. Mary’s with a score of 4-2.

Hockey Manitoba would like to thank all players and coaches for providing some exciting hockey action. Also, a big thank you to University of Manitoba for their support of the tournament.