Box Score

The Regina Cougars got goals from seven different players as they defeated the visiting Manitoba Bisons 7-4 in Canada West men's hockey action at The Co-operators Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Troy Hunter, Ryan Sawka, John Sonntag, Liam Brennan, Brock Appleyard, Tyler Henry and Cody Fowlie all scored for the Cougars. Manitoba's offence came off the sticks of Brendan Rowinski, Ian Duval and Aaron Lewadniuk who scored twice.

Lucas Gore stopped 49 shots to pick up the win in goal.

The Cougars opened the scoring early, with Troy Hunter finding the back of the net just 1:14 into the first. But the Bisons stormed right back, as Brendan Rowinski beat Gore just 22 seconds later to tie the game at one. The Cougars answered less than five minutes later, as Sawka beat Manitoba goaltender Deven Dubyk for his first of the season. Regina added one more before the period was out, with John Sonntag blasting home a shot from the point on the power play.

Manitoba came out strong to start the second, but captain Dane Crowley left the ice early in the period with an apparent lower-body injury, and did not return. Despite the setback Aaron Lewadniuk picked up his second goal of the weekend a few minutes later to pull the Bisons within one.

Manitoba continued to pressure, but the Cougars' offence came back to life midway through the period. Brennan picked up the rebound from a Fowlie point shot and put one past Dubyk to give the Cougars a 4-2 lead. The Cougars struck again with under three minutes remaining in the frame. Christian Magnus slid a cross-ice pass to Brennan on a two-on-one rush and Brennan made no mistake, putting the Cougars up by three. Then with just one second left on the clock, Henry pounced on a loose puck for his second goal of the season.

The goals continued to come in the third. After Dubyk was pulled in favour of Joe Caligiuri, Duval beat Gore early in the period to cut the Cougars' lead to 6-3. It stayed that way until late in the game when Fowlie scored his second goal of the season for the Cougars. Manitoba got another one from Lewadniuk, but it was not enough as the Cougars picked up the 7-4 victory.

Manitoba, now with a 2-7-1 record, plays host to Lethbridge next weekend.

The Cougars improve to 6-4-0 with the win and will be on the road next week to take on Alberta. The puck drops in Edmonton at 7:00 p.m. MST Friday night and 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.