Box Score

The Regina Cougars men's hockey team saw their season come to an end on Saturday night, falling 4-1 to the Saskatchewan Huskies at The Co-operators Centre.

Ryan McDonald, Kenton Dulle, Andrew Bailey and Derek Hulak all found the back of the net for the Huskies. Blake Voth made 28 saves for the win in net. Troy Hunter scored the lone goal for the Cougars, while Lucas Gore turned aside 20 shots in a losing effort.

The Huskies opened the scoring 3:20 into the first period. McDonald tipped a point shot from Kendall McFaull past Gore to give his team the early lead. Less than three minutes later the Huskies struck again. With Skyler Hladun in the box for roughing, Connor Cox's long shot from the point hit a body in front and dribbled over to Dulle who put it into a wide-open net.

Cody Fowlie had the best chance of the period for the Cougars when he came in on a shorthanded breakaway midway through the frame. But while his shot beat Voth it went off the post.

The Huskies went up by three before the end of the first. The puck took a funny bounce off the glass in the Cougars' end and floated over to Bailey, who came in alone on a shorthanded breakaway and roofed it high glove side on Gore.

The Cougars got a chance with the man advantage early in the second, but couldn't get anything going. From there the two teams traded chances for the rest of the period, however nobody could find the back of the net.

The period saw plenty of physical play, which included coincidental minors to Bailey and Steven Turner for cross checking and roughing respectively. The Cougars also got a scare late in the period when Brock Appleyard went down after a collision along the boards. He had to be helped off the ice, putting no weight on his left leg.

Appleyard did return in the third, but the Cougars ran into penalty trouble and had difficulties getting much going offensively. The Huskies had three chances with the man advantage, but couldn't convert on any of them. The Cougars finally managed to get on the board when Hunter slapped one past Voth on the power play with 1:57 to play. But that was as far the Cougars would come, and Hulak added an empty netter to seal the win for the Huskies.

With the loss the Cougars will finish in 7th place in the Canada West standings, missing the playoffs by a single point. The game also marked the end of the careers for fifth-year players Tyler Murray, Ryan Sawka and Craig Cuthbert, whose season ended with a broken arm last month.

The Huskies will host the UBC Thunderbirds next week in the Canada West quarterfinals.