Men's Hockey | 11/24/2015 1:44:00 PM

THURSDAY: vs. Manitoba, 7 p.m., The Co-operators Centre
FRIDAY: vs. Manitoba, 7 p.m., The Co-operators Centre

The University of Regina men's hockey team will close out its 2015 schedule with a pair of home games this week against the Manitoba Bisons.

The Cougars are coming off a sweep, having exploded for 15 goals in two road games against the Lethbridge Pronghorns last weekend. Ian McNulty led the way on Friday with a hat trick in the Cougars' 7-4 win to snap Lethbridge's five-game win streak. Mark Schneider (pictured), Austin Bourhis, Dylen McKinlay and Landon Peel also scored in the win, while Andy Desautels earned his first Canada West win in net with 38 saves. Saturday's rematch produced a similar result, with the Cougars coming away with an 8-4 win. J.J. Coleshaw notched a hat trick in the win, while Miguel Pereira scored twice and Schneider, Cody Fowlie and Trent Lofthouse added singles. Mitch Kilgore was the winning goaltender, stopping 31 shots.

"We've been preaching to the guys to get pucks on net and be relentless when attacking the net," head coach Todd Johnson said. "Even after we got scored on, the guys kept pushing and really showed strong mental toughness from start to finish."

The Cougars (4-10-0) have a 4-5 record on the road, and will look to earn their first home victories this weekend. Regina's leading scorer is Coleshaw, who has recorded five goals and four assists. Fowlie is right behind with eight points, while Schneider, Pereira, McKinlay and Troy Hunter each have seven.

Kilgore, Desautels and Dawson MacAuley have all seen playing time between the pipes for the Cougars, with Kilgore logging the most minutes so far. The Cougars have allowed the most goals in Canada West this season with 70.

Manitoba (5-7-2) is currently on a four-game losing streak and sits four points ahead of the Cougars in the sixth and final Canada West playoff spot. The Bisons are led by Jordan DePape (7G, 12A), Shaq Merasty (9G, 7A) and Brett Stovin (5G, 7A). Byron Spriggs and rookie Justin Paulic have split time in net for Manitoba. Spriggs has a 3.14 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage while Paulic has marks of 3.76 and .892.

"We need to have the same focus heading into this weekend," Johnson added. "We have worked really hard on conditioning and I think it's starting to show – we've been skating hard and finishing checks for 60 minutes and we'll need to continue to do that."