Men's Hockey | 10/15/2015 3:48:00 PM

The University of Regina men's hockey team will play its first home games of the 2015-16 season this weekend as the Cougars host the No. 1-ranked Alberta Golden Bears.

The Cougars are coming off a split with the Manitoba Bisons, in a weekend set that saw the visiting Cougars win Friday's game 2-1 in overtime before falling 6-2 in the rematch. Ian McNulty scored on Friday and Dylen McKinlay added the overtime winner. McKinlay scored again on Saturday and J.J. Coleshaw netted his first Canada West goal in the loss.

Dawson MacAuley started both games between the pipes for the Cougars, making 40 saves in Friday's win and stopping 13 shots on Saturday before Mitch Kilgore came on in relief.

For the first weekend with a lot of new players, head coach Todd Johnson was impressed with his squad.

"We worked hard in both games and didn't quit, and that's definitely a positive," the fourth-year bench boss said. "We scored two late goals in the loss, and that tells me about the character of these guys. We had plenty of scoring opportunities and that's what we want."

The Golden Bears, who hold the top spot in the CIS weekly rankings, beat Lethbridge 2-0 in their opener before being shocked in double overtime on the following night, falling 3-2 to the Pronghorns. James Dobrowolski, Jordan Hickmott and Riley Kieser each registered a goal and an assist on the weekend, while Levko Koper chipped in with two helpers of his own.

Third-year goaltender Luke Siemens played both games in net, stopping 54 of 57 shots and posting a 1.39 goals against average.

"I think as long as we display consistency, we're going to be a solid team," Johnson added. "At times we were really good, so we need to concentrate on consistently working hard and staying in our systems."

Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at The Co-operators Centre.