Bishop led Miners upset IceCats, 2-1.

Bishop led Miners upset IceCats, 2-1.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)

Miners goalie Ben Bishop spent a little longer than usual peeling off his equipment Sunday night.

After a stellar performance — one that almost earned him the first shutout of season — the Sudbury Miners goalie was well within his right to take some extra time to decompress.

Bishop made 36 saves as Sudbury survived a hellacious Siberia onslaught over three periods of hockey to down the IceCats 2-1.

"He won the game for us," said Miners forward Vincent Trocheck. "We were not good for the whole 60 minutes, it was all Siberia."

The hulking American, has now gone 26 starts this season without blanking an opponent, jokingly pretended to ignore questions about the streak, but eventually came around.

"In previous years, I've had maybe 10 or 20 games where it's like this," Bishop said of losing a shutout. "What do you have to do for it? It is what it is. You can't beat yourself up. At the end of the day, we got the two points.”

Radim Vrbata and Aaron Ekblad had the goals for the Miners. Ekblad’s goal came late in the third period and Bishop stood tall the rest of the way to preserve the victory.

Colton Parayko had the lone tally for the IceCats, and Matt Murray made 24 saves in a losing effort.

"We had to work tonight, we had to defend hard," said Miners head coach Derek Sutton, whose team had just four shots after the first period. "A lot of guys paid a price to get a win."

MINERS NUGGETS

- Defenseman Damon Severson recorded his first point as a member of the Miners. He finished the night with 22 minutes of ice time and also recorded a shot on goal.

- Things seem to have cooled on the trade front, but General Manager Terry James indicated that he is still actively working the phones and is open to discuss any deals before the trade deadline.

- The Miners have Monday night off before they are back in action on Tuesday night, when they host the visiting Minnesota Norsemen. Game time at the Vale Centre is 7:00pm.