The Bloomington Bison win the first game of the year. Split Weekend Series with Walleye

IMAGE COURTESY OF BLOOMINGTON BISON MEDIA TEAM

NORMAL, Ill. – The Bloomington Bison won their first game of the season against the Toledo Walleye on Friday night before falling short in Saturday’s rematch at Grossinger Motors Arena.

In Friday’s contest, Bison goalie Callum Tung came out on fire, stopping all 15 shots in the opening period, including a penalty stop, to keep the matchup in a scoreless tie heading into the first intermission.

Even with Tung’s stellar start to the game, the Walleye struck first, scoring the opening goal in the second period on a power play.

The Bison’s Kyle Jackson continued his hot start to the season, answering to tie the game shortly after on assists from Chongmin Lee and Nikita Sedov. Jackson leads the squad with 3 goals on the season.

With the momentum on the Bison’s side, Brett Budgell became the first Bison player to score the team’s first ever penalty shot goal to give them a 2-1 advantage. Much like the Bison’s quick answer after falling behind earlier in the period, the Walleye too answered quickly with another power play goal to tie the game.

In fitting fashion, the tie did not last long before Parker Gavlas connected on his first professional goal of a Walleye miscue, giving the Bison the lead back at 3-2. The final period saw the Bison goalie make a number of impressive saves before being forced off the ice due to an injury sustained during a penalty kill. His backup, Hugo Ollas, did not disappoint either, saving all 14 shots he faced during the period, including a late penalty kill to preserve the Bison’s lead.

Ollas’s solid final frame set up Lee’s game-sealing score on an empty net late in the third to make it 4-2 for the Bison, on assists from Budgell and Gavlas. The Bison earned a much-deserved first win of the year and carried that momentum and energy into Saturday’s rematch with the Walleye, where they outshot Toledo 15-8 in the opening frame but could not find the back of the net. The Walleye capitalized on that by scoring the opening goal for the second straight game.

After the opening score, Toledo doubled down with a penalty shot goal in the second period.

The Bison however were determined to get back into the game, and relied on four straight penalty kills to keep the contest alive.

After that, Toledo extended their lead to 4-0 early in the final period of play before the Bison mounted a comeback.

Riku Ishida scored his second power play goal of the season, with assists by Jackson and Shane Ott.

The opening score for Bloomington was followed by a rebound goal from Chongmin Lee, with assists from Eddie Matsushima and Seung Jae Lee to make it 4-2.

Unfortunately, Bloomington’s  late rally did not end up being enough, as the bison conceded two more scores to the Walleye on a power play and on an empty net to seal the 6-2 victory for them.

In the closing moments, things ended up getting physical, with both teams not willing to back down, leading to each side receiving four fighting majors to close out the game.

Splitting the weekend series against the Walleye pushed the Bison’s record to 1-2 on the young season.

The Bison will look to get back into the win column on Halloween night, Friday, October 31, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. at Grossinger Motors Arena.

For all things Bloomington Bison, be sure to tune into wznd.com.