After more than a month off from the Canada West schedule, the University of Regina's men's hockey team returns to conference play this weekend against Lethbridge.

Game time is 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday at The Co-operators Centre.

The Cougars burst out to a 6-3-1 record through their first 10 conference games – their best start since the 1995-96 season, when they also had 13 points in their first 10 contests – but suffered five straight losses after that to dip below .500 for the season. A road win over UBC in the last game before the December break brought the Cougars back up to the .500 mark, and the U of R enters the second half of the schedule with a 7-7-2 record and hold an eight-point lead over Mount Royal for the sixth and final conference postseason berth.

The Cougars are also in striking distance of a couple of teams just above them in the standings, as fourth-place UBC enters the weekend with 19 points and fifth-place Calgary has 18. Those two teams play each other twice in Vancouver this weekend, while No. 3-ranked Saskatchewan also hosts Manitoba.

Second-year forward Tyler Henry continues to lead the Cougars in both goals (8) and points (13), while Matt Strueby is tied for the team lead with seven assists and ranks second on the squad with 12 points. Troy Hunter has 11 points in 11 games this season, but missed the final five games of the first half of the schedule due to an injury suffered against Alberta back on Nov. 16.

John Sonntag leads Regina's blueline corps with five points on the season, while Mark Schneider and rookie defenceman Ryan Dech have both chipped in with four points apiece. Andrew Hayes and Lucas Gore have split the netminding duties equally, as both goalies have started eight games so far. Hayes is 4-4 with two shutouts and a .909 save percentage, while Gore's top outing of the season came after stopping 28 shots in a 2-1 win over Mount Royal.

With a win over Mount Royal standing as its only Canada West victory of the season so far, Lethbridge (1-13-2) sits in the conference cellar with four points in its first 16 games. The highlight of the Pronghorns' season so far has been the play of first-year forward Chase Schaber, who's tied for the Canada West rookie scoring lead with six goals and nine assists for 15 points.

Third-year forward Daniel Iwanski ranks second on Lethbridge with 11 points, while goalies Damien Ketlo and Dylan Tait have shared the load between the pipes for the Pronghorns. Ketlo has nine starts on the year, with Tait getting the start in the other seven contests.

The Cougars come into the weekend series with an all-time record of 60-43-7 against Lethbridge and have won four of the last five meetings with the Pronghorns. The U of R hits the road for the following two weekends with a pair of games against both Calgary and Mount Royal, while Lethbridge is back in action against UBC at home next weekend.