Game Notes

The University of Regina's men's hockey team hosts the No. 4-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies this weekend at the Sherwood Ice Sports Centre.

The teams will be playing for the first time since the Cougars (5-5-2) delivered an 8-1 win over the Huskies (9-4-1) back on Oct. 4. Since then, the Cougars went through a five-game losing streak but snapped that last weekend with a two-game sweep over UBC to jump into fourth place in the conference.

Kyle Ross is tied for 10th in the conference and holds the team lead in scoring. He had a goal and an assist last weekend in the two wins over UBC, giving the second-year forward six goals and six assists for 12 points in 12 games this season. Ross led the offensive charge for the Cougars during their last meeting with the Huskies, scoring a hat trick and adding two assists. Ross and Caine Pearpoint both lead the team with a plus-7 rating. Dylan Chapman has been a revelation on the blueline for the Cougars this season. The 6'5”, 220 lb. rookie leads all Canada West first-year defencemen with goals (4) and is tied for the lead with eight points.

Second-year goalie Brant Hilton has been nothing short of spectacular for the Cougars recently, allowing just five goals and making 119 saves over the team's last four games. Hilton is currently ranked second in Canada West in both goals-against average (1.83) and save percentage (.935) behind Alberta's Aaron Sorochan.

The Huskies enter the weekend riding a three-game winning streak, having defeated Calgary back on Nov. 1 and UBC on both Nov. 7 and 8.

Saskatchewan has been led offensively this year by rookie forward Steven DaSilva, who leads the league in goals (10), assists (17), and points (27). DaSilva has already opened up a seven-point lead over teammate Steven Gillen, who ranks second in Canada West with 20 points in the team's first 14 games.

After splitting the first four series of the season with Russell Monette, fourth-year goalie Jeff Harvey has started the last six games for the Huskies. Harvey has a 7-2 record and ranks seventh in the conference with a 3.16 goals against average.

Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.

Following this weekend, the Cougars will play six consecutive games on the road – including next weekend at Manitoba before the Christmas break – and won't have a home game until Jan. 24 and 25, when they'll host the Calgary Dinos in a pair of afternoon tilts.

NOTES: Hilton is on pace to threaten not only his own U of R single-season goals-against average record (set last year at 2.26), but also the school's single-season save percentage record (set by Rob Muntain at .923 during the 2003-04 season) … counting regular season games only, this weekend will mark the 108th and 109th meetings between the two teams.