The University of Regina men's hockey team scored twice in the third period but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback, as the Cougars fell 5-3 to the Manitoba Bisons on Friday night at The Co-operators Centre.

Brett Stovin scored twice for the Bisons, while Shaq Merasty, Justin Augert, and Zach Waldvogel also found the net. Channing Bresciani had three assists in the win. Austin Bourhis (pictured) had a goal and an assist, and Miguel Pereira and Ian McNulty scored.

For the second night in a row, the Bisons opened the scoring in the first period on the powerplay. The goal came after a harmless looking dump in from Merasty was mishandled by Mitch Kilgore, and the third-year forward followed the play in to bat the loose puck past Kilgore.

The Cougars best chance of the opening period came right before the Manitoba goal, as a Dylen McKinlay pass from behind the net bounced off the side of the cage right to Sanfred King in front. King got a shot on net but Byron Spriggs was able to adjust and get a pad on it. The rebound sat loose in front but nobody could get a stick on it and the puck was cleared away.

Regina answered early in the second period, as Bourhis fed the puck up the wing to Christian Magnus. Magnus went in hard towards the net, putting a shot on Spriggs and being taken down in the process. The puck deflected off Spriggs' pad, a defender's stick, and sat right in front of the net for Bourhis who was streaking in behind the play. The defenceman knocked it in to the open net for his second of the season, drawing the Cougars even.

The Bisons would add another powerplay marker midway through the second period, this time off the stick of Augert. Regina kept the Manitoba powerplay out of the offensive zone for much of the penalty, but the Bisons broke in late and a pass across from Jesse Paradis found Augert, who one-timed a slapshot past Kilgore.

The Bisons would score again shortly after Augert's goal, as Stovin ripped a wrist shot to the top corner past Kilgore's glove. Paradis and Jordan DePape assisted on Stovin's seventh of the season. Manitoba continued to pile it on, as Stovin scored again just over two minutes later. Bresciani blocked a Cougar point shot and flipped the puck down the ice to Stovin, who deked around Kilgore and finished with the high backhand for his second of the night.

Regina was impressive early in the third period, managing to beat Spriggs at the 6:29 markof the final frame. Bourhis took a pass from Pereira on the right side of the ice, and waited until Pereira got up into the zone. He fed the puck back to the second-year forward, and Pereira walked into the slot, firing a wrist shot off the post and in to make the score 4-2.

The Cougars found another goal less than five minutes later, as McNulty collected a puck beside the net after a wild scramble in front of Spriggs, and slipped it in to make the score 4-3. McKinlay and Landon Peel collected assists on the goal.

It looked as though the Cougars were in position to find the equalizer, but a late effort with Kilgore out of his net resulted in a Bisons empty netter off the stick of Waldvogel.

Kilgore stopped 30 shots in the loss while Spriggs made 33 saves in the win.

The Cougars are now off until Jan. 8, when they'll host the Calgary Dinos.