The University of Regina's men's hockey team returns to action this weekend against the Manitoba Bisons following a month-long break from the Canada West schedule. The teams will meet at 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday at The Co-operators Centre.

The Cougars (4-10-2) come into the second half of the schedule occupying the final Canada West playoff position and currently sit two points up on seventh-place Lethbridge. Matt Strueby has notched a team-high seven goals for Regina this season, while Strueby and Lucas Isley are tied for the team lead with 12 points each. Russ Nielsen leads the team's blueliners with seven points, while rookie Lucas Gore leads all Canada West goalies in both minutes played and saves.

Head coach Blaine Sautner added three players to the roster over the break, including first-year goaltender Andrew Hayes. Hayes, who played three seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings and another with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, had originally committed to the Cougars last summer but opted for a tryout with the ECHL's Alaska Aces.

Sautner also added forward Sanfred King, who piled up 64 points in 51 games last year with the SJHL's Kindersley Klippers and spent two seasons as a teammate of Hayes with the Wheat Kings, and goaltender Alexandre Sirard (Melville Millionaires).

No. 9-ranked Manitoba enters the weekend with a 10-4-2 Canada West record and in third place in the conference standings. Blair Macaulay is tied for the Canada West lead with 13 goals for the Bisons, while Jeremy Schappert leads all conference defencemen with 15 points – 11 of which have come for a Manitoba power play that ranks second in the conference with a 20.8% conversion rate.

In net, Manitoba's tandem of Jesse Deckert and Joe Caligiuri has combined to allow just 2.31 goals per game, the second lowest rate in Canada West. The workload has been fairly evenly distributed between the two, with Deckert getting nine starts this season and Caligiuri seven.

The Cougars will hit the road for two of the next three weekends, as they'll play UBC on Jan. 13 and Jan. 14 and at Calgary on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28. The team has a weekend off between those two road series and will play its next home games on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 against Lethbridge.

Live statistics for this weekend's games will be available at www.reginacougars.com.