Box Score

Sean Ringrose scored twice and Kurtis Mucha made 19 saves to lift the University of Alberta Golden Bears men's hockey team past the Regina Cougars 5-2 on Saturday night.

Drew Nichol, Brett Ferguson and Jordan Hickmott also scored for Alberta. Tyler Henry and Ward Szucki found the back of the net for the Cougars, while Lucas Gore turned aside 38 shots in a losing effort.

Alberta opened the scoring 4:30 into the first period. A point shot from Jordan Rowley was tipped home by Ringrose in front of the net to put his team up by one. Three minutes later the Cougars got a chance with the man advantage when James Dobrowolski was sent off for tripping. But despite getting several great chances including a shot that was tipped off the crossbar, the Cougars couldn't beat Mucha.

The Golden Bears went up 2-0 before the period was out. Travis Toomey came in over the blueline and while his shot was stopped by Gore, the rebound was picked up by Nichol who fired it past Gore, putting Alberta ahead by two after twenty minutes.

Alberta added to their lead just over five minutes into the second frame. Jesse Craige sent Ferguson in on a breakaway and he snapped a shot low blocker side to make it 3-0 for the Golden Bears. However the Cougars came right back 61 seconds later. John Sonntag's shot from the point was tipped past Mucha by Henry to put the Cougars on the board.

The Golden Bears had a lengthy 5-on-3 power play immediately afterwards, but the Cougars had a strong penalty kill which included a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush. Unfortunately Sonntag couldn't put away a pass from Cody Fowlie through the slot. Alberta continued to pressure though, and on yet another chance with the man advantage they restored their three goal lead. Ringrose took a pass from the corner and fired a hard wrister just under the crossbar from the faceoff circle to make it 4-1.

Alberta went up by four 1:02 into the third period. Ferguson skated in over the blue line and slid a pass through the slot to Hickmott who tapped it into an open net. The Cougars struck back 39 seconds later. Szucki came in on a partial breakaway and fired it past Mucha to make it 5-2. But that was as close as the Cougars would get, as the Golden Bears held on for the victory.

With the win the Golden Bears improve to 23-2-1 and now lead second-place Calgary by two points. They'll play a home-and-home series with the Dinos next weekend to wrap up their regular season schedule. Both the Golden Bears and the Dinos will have a bye in the first round of the Canada West playoffs.

The Cougars see their record fall to 11-13-2. They'll wrap up their regular season next weekend with a home-and-home series against Saskatchewan. The puck drops in Saskatoon at 7 p.m. on Friday and at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at The Co-operators Centre.