Box Score Box Score

The University of Regina's men's hockey team lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night, falling 4-3 in a shootout to the No. 5-ranked Alberta Golden Bears at The Co-operators Centre.

The win improves Alberta's record to 18-6-2 as the Golden Bears keep pace with first-place Manitoba and remain one point back of the Bisons, while the Cougars drop to 5-18-3 and are mathematically eliminated from the postseason.

Levko Koper scored the shootout winner in the sixth round after going five-hole on Cougar goalie Andrew Hayes, while Alberta's Kurtis Mucha stopped five of the six shooters he faced to secure the win for the Golden Bears.

The Cougars had the edge early in the game as two goals by third-year forward Terrance DeLaronde gave the U of R a 2-0 lead after the opening 20. DeLaronde's first goal came on a nice setup from Brock Appleyard that gave him a wide-open net, while his second came on a partial breakaway that saw Mucha make the initial save before the puck eventually slid across the line.

The Golden Bears had a chance to get back into the game when Johnny Lazo was awarded a penalty shot under a minute into the second period, but Lazo's attempt to go five-hole was stopped by an impressive right pad save by Hayes to keep Alberta off the scoreboard.

John Sonntag increased Regina's lead to three when his point shot found the back of the net just over eight minutes into the second, but Hayes' shutout bid came to an end five minutes later. Jordan Rowley's point shot took a fortuitous bounce off the end boards and off the inside of Hayes' pads to end up in the back of the net, drawing the Golden Bears to within to going into the second intermission.

Alberta showed why it's ranked in the top five in the nation during a dominating third period that saw the Golden Bears outshoot the U of R 11-0 over the first 13 minutes of the frame and 18-4 overall. Alberta finally broke through with just over three minutes to go when Lazo streaked down the left side and wired a wrist shot top shelf to cut the lead to one. With only a minute and a half left in regulation, Alberta captain Greg Gardner tipped in a Thomas Carr point shot to send the game to overtime.

The four-on-four first overtime saw only two shots, both of which were registered by Regina on Mucha, but neither of which would go down as a quality scoring chance. The three-on-three second overtime was owned by Alberta, as the Golden Bears outshot Regina 7-1 in the session but were stymied by Hayes.

In the shootout, Lazo scored on Alberta's first attempt to put the U of A up 1-0 after Tyler Penny opened with a miss for Regina. Terrance DeLaronde was the lone player to score in the second round, and the next eight shooters all missed before Koper finally ended it in the sixth round.

Hayes was brilliant for the Cougars, making 48 saves as Alberta outshot Regina by a 52-24 margin during the contest.

The Cougars finish up the season with a home-and-home against the University of Saskatchewan next weekend, with the teams meeting in Saskatoon on Friday night and in Regina on Saturday night.

Alberta will wrap up its conference schedule at home against the University of Lethbridge next weekend.