The University of Regina's men's hockey team hosts Saskatchewan on Friday night in its first home game of the 2011-12 conference schedule. Game time is 7 p.m. at The Co-operators Centre.

The Cougars opened the Canada West season last weekend in Edmonton, where they suffered 5-2 and 2-0 losses to the four-time defending conference champion Golden Bears. Friday's game saw the Cougars strike first with a goal by Tyler Penny, but Alberta took the lead with a pair of goals by Ben Lindemulder and Johnny Lazo before the opening 20 minutes ended. Levko Koper added to the lead in the middle frame, but Russ Nielsen's goal for the Cougars early in the third cut the lead to 3-2. That would be all the Cougars could muster, as Koper and Lazo put the game away with insurance goals 2:29 apart midway through the third.

On Saturday, A.J. Whiffen made 35 saves but it wasn't enough Alberta got goals from Jordan Hickmott and Sean Ringrose and Real Cyr stopped all 12 shots he faced to secure the shutout for the Golden Bears.

Saskatchewan kicked off Canada West play two weeks ago in what was supposed to be a two-game weekend at Lethbridge. The first game went off without incident, as the Huskies got a pair of goals from Brennan Bosch and singles from Brenden Dowd, Craig McCallum, and Derek Hulak during a 5-2 win over the Pronghorns. Leading 3-0 after 40 minutes of play on Oct. 1, the Huskies were well on their way to a second victory in as many days over Lethbridge but a Zamboni mishap caused the game to be suspended. The remainder of the game will be played at a time to be announced later.

Regina and Saskatchewan met twice during non-conference action, with the Huskies taking a 2-1 overtime win in Saskatoon back on Sept. 9 and a 3-1 win in Regina on Sept. 18.

Friday's game marks the first of six meetings between the two teams on the 2011-12 Canada West slate. They'll also meet on Saturday in Saskatoon, on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3 in Saskatoon, Feb. 17 in Saskatoon, and Feb. 18 here at The Co-operators Centre in Regina.

NOTES: Five of the Cougars' first six games of the 2011-12 Canada West schedule are on the road ... Saturday's game in Saskatoon will mark the 125th conference game between the two teams since they first met in 1979.