Kalamazoo, Mich. – Ayden MacDonald scored the game-winning shootout goal and added two assists, while Hugo Ollas stopped 36 shots and was perfect in the skills competition to lead the Bloomington Bison to a 4-3 win over the Kalamazoo Wings at Wings Event Center on Sunday afternoon.

The teams traded big, legal hits early, with Brenden Datema and Mikael Robidoux setting the tone and Bloomington spent nearly the first five minutes in offensive territory. After Kalamazoo managed an outlet down ice, Ollas made a post-to-post save for his best look early, and a collision inside the line led to a Wings powerplay. Eddie Matsushima created multiple opportunities over the next two minutes, despite his team being shorthanded. The Bison continued to push, and at 12:36, Mikhail Abramov finished off a two-on-one drive from Shane Ott and Cullen Ferguson to give Bloomington a 1-0 lead. With 70 seconds left in the period, Robidoux slithered behind the defense and caught a breakaway pass but chipped the puck wide. 

Ollas fought off a shot through traffic as the home team began the second frame with life, but the Bison remained composed and soon increased their lead to two goals. MacDonald set up the play to earn a secondary assist when Brad Morrison potted in a rebound off Sullivan Mack’s shot less than two and a half minutes in. Morrison was playing in his second game as a Bison and previously played 69 games with the Wings. After jumping ahead 2-0, Bloomington once again found a seam-pass option but the puck carrier was dumped at the blue line and a scrum ensued. The Bison were soon denied a chance to capitalize on a three-on-two break, but continued to press until the Wings broke through on the scoreboard with 3:37 on the clock. Riku Ishida erased another Kalamazoo chance as they loaded up for a one-timed shot a minute later, and Bloomington drew a penalty. Following a clear by the shorthanded Wings, Ollas played the puck quickly back up ice to MacDonald, who re-entered the zone and continued a give-and-go. Ott and Ishida played catch, and Ott tipped in the 3-1 powerplay goal with 15 seconds left in the stanza.

The Bison drew back-to-back powerplays to begin the third, and five minutes in, Morrison dropped the gloves after a teammate was rocked down to the ice. Physical play continued and Bloomington was assessed an extra roughing penalty at 9:02, which sent Kalamazoo back to the powerplay. With one minute left in the penalty the Bison were called for slashing, and 29 seconds later the Wings scored. Bloomington killed off the next 91 seconds of five-on-four play but Kalamazoo kept pressure on. Ollas denied a spin-o-rama attempt with four minutes left and earned a whistle after extended Wings zone-time. With 90 seconds left and an extra attacker on the ice, the Bison netminder turned aside a breakaway chance but Kalamazoo broke through with the game-tying goal 12 seconds later after winning the ensuing faceoff to force overtime.

Matsushima was stonewalled point-blank 47 ticks into the extra frame, and then Ollas answered the bell with a breakaway denial on the next shift. Bloomington was called for holding during a neutral ice battle to give the Wings a powerplay with 4:36 left in the extra time frame and the Bison limited chances. Ollas closed his left arm down to his chest to negate a two-on-one with 40 seconds left on the clock, and that brought up the shootout. The Bison were denied on their first two attempts but MacDonald buried the game-winning tally in the bottom of the third round after Ollas kept Kalamazoo at bay, and Bloomington captured its third shootout win of the season.

Bloomington returns to home ice on Friday, February 20 for a 309 Night featuring $3 Busch Light cans and sodas, $0 popcorn and $9 double-slice pizza specials!

Single-game tickets are available for ALL Bloomington Bison home games starting as low as $20! Visit ticketmaster.com or call 309-965-HERD to purchase tickets today.