Box Score

Three unanswered goals in the second period powered the University of Regina's men's hockey team to a 3-1 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies on Wednesday night at The Co-operators Centre.

Two of the U of R's three goals were scored by Liam Brennan, while Brock Appleyard notched the other for the Cougars and goalie Lucas Gore made 30 saves to lock up his fourth win of the season. Brennan Bosch scored Saskatchewan's lone goal.

The Cougars (7-6-0) move into sole possession of third place in the Canada West standings, two points up on Saskatchewan (6-7-0).

Bosch's goal officially goes down as at even strength, but it opened the scoring just seconds after the expiration of a Ryan Dech penalty past the eight-minute mark of the first period. Matthew Spafford's pass from the right half wall found Bosch in the slot and the Saskatchewan captain one-timed it past Gore for his fifth of the campaign. Bosch's goal was the only scoring of the first period, which saw both teams kill off a pair of penalties and a 9-8 shot advantage for the Cougars.

The Cougars got on the board in the second period a couple minutes after killing off their third minor penalty of the contest. Christian Magnus took the body behind the Saskatchewan net and forced a turnover, then slipped a pass to the slot to Appleyard, who buried his fifth of the season.

Brennan scored both of his goals in the final seven minutes of the middle frame. His first came on a shot from the right face-off dot that went short side on Saskatchewan goalie Ryan Holfeld, and Brennan's second of the game came with just over a minute left in the second after a breakaway following a U of S turnover in the neutral zone.

After Brennan's first goal, Tyler Henry's slashing minor resulted in a pair of fine chances for both teams. Appleyard broke in alone early in the penalty kill but was denied by a nice save by Holfeld after a deke to the backhand, and Shayne Neigum tried to go five-hole on a breakaway seconds later but Gore stood tall to keep the game tied.

Though Saskatchewan outshot the Cougars by a 14-4 margin in the third, it was the home side that had the best chance of the final period. Cody Fowlie broke in on a 2-on-1 with Sanfred King and slipped a pass over to King, but Holfeld made a great save with an outstretched left pad to deny King his first goal of the season.

Saskatchewan pulled Holfeld with a minute and a half remaining, but weren't able to close the gap in the waning moments of the game. The Huskies ended up with a 31-22 advantage in shots during the contest while both teams were held scoreless on the power play, as the U of S was 0-for-6 with the man advantage and the Cougars were unsuccessful on their three power plays.

The two teams will close out the two-game midweek set on Thursday night in Saskatoon.