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The University of Regina's men's hockey team closes out the 2012-13 conference schedule this Friday night (7:00) and Saturday afternoon (2:30) against Manitoba at The Co-operators Centre.

The Cougars already know they'll finish in sixth place in the Canada West standings, but this weekend's series might very well be a playoff preview as the U of R will almost certainly travel to either Manitoba or Saskatchewan next weekend for the Canada West quarterfinals.

The No. 7-ranked Bisons (16-6-4) come into the series in second place in the conference standings, one point ahead of third-place Saskatchewan (17-8-1). The stakes are high for the Bisons and the Huskies, as the second-place finisher will get a bye through to the Canada West semifinals and the third-place team will host the Cougars in the best-of-three quarterfinals.

The Cougars are coming off a pair of losses to No. 2-ranked Alberta, as the Golden Bears won 6-0 on Friday and took a 2-0 win on Saturday night despite a 50-save performance by U of R netminder Lucas Gore. The team's blueline corps continues to be decimated by injuries, as the Cougars started the season with only six on the roster and had four of them injured as of last weekend. Ryan Dech, Russ Nielsen, Mark Schneider, and John Sonntag all missed Saturday's game against the Golden Bears, with forwards Brock Appleyard, Craig Cuthbert, and Ward Szucki filling in at defence. Schneider is expected to return this weekend, but Dech, Nielsen, Sonntag, and forward Tanner Lange will remain out of the lineup for the Cougars.

Though he's not expected to play, Nielsen – the lone fifth-year player on the Cougars – will be honoured as part of Senior Day on Saturday. Nielsen, who won the 2008 Royal Bank Cup with the Humboldt Broncos before coming to the U of R, will end his Cougar career with 116 career Canada West games played. He accumulated nine goals and 21 assists for 30 points as a Cougar, with five of his nine goals coming on the power play.

Troy Hunter and Tyler Henry remain the U of R's scoring leaders for the season, as both players have missed five games due to injury but have still registered 17 points and 16 points, respectively. Between the pipes, Gore and Andrew Hayes have split every weekend so far for first-year head coach Todd Johnson. Gore is fourth in Canada West with a .915 save percentage, while Hayes is one of five Canada West goaltenders with multiple shutouts this season.

These two teams met in Winnipeg in late November, with Manitoba earning 6-0 and 7-2 victories. The Bisons' Blair Macaulay comes into the weekend as Canada West's scoring leader, as the fourth-year forward has collected 12 goals and 22 assists for a conference-leading 34 points this season. Goalie Jesse Deckert has started 22 of Manitoba's 26 games this season and has a 2.07 goals-against average to go along with a .920 save percentage.

All six other teams are also in action this weekend, including Saskatchewan visiting Lethbridge for a two-game series that Manitoba will be keeping a close eye on. UBC also hosts Alberta, while Calgary and Mount Royal meet at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday and at the Flames Community Arena on Friday.