The University of Regina's men's hockey team plays its first home games of this year's Canada West schedule this weekend, with the Manitoba Bisons in town for Friday night (7:00) and Saturday afternoon (3:00) games at The Co-operators Centre.
The Cougars (1-1-0) opened the year with a road split against Lethbridge last weekend, while the Bisons are 0-2-0 after starting conference play with two home setbacks to Mount Royal.
The two teams met twice during the non-conference schedule, with Manitoba earning 7-2 and 3-0 victories a month ago in Winnipeg. The first game of those two was a spirited affair, with the teams combining for a total of 109 minutes in penalties including a pair of rare scraps late in the contest.
"I didn't think we played very well in either of those two games, and we're looking to play a lot better against these guys this time around," Cougars head coach
Todd Johnson said. "Any time we play Manitoba it's going to be an aggressive game with high emotions with the guys all knowing each other well. I'd imagine it'll be very similar this weekend, so it's going to be extremely important for us to stay disciplined in both of these games."
Last weekend saw the Cougars spoil Lethbridge's home opener with a 2-1 win on Friday, only to see the Pronghorns salvage a weekend split with a 4-2 win on Saturday.
Andy Desautels played the whole weekend between the pipes for the Cougars, saving 62 of Lethbridge's 66 shots during the two-game series – and he'll get the call again on Friday night to give him three straight starts to begin the season.
J.J. Coleshaw and
Cody Fowlie provided the offence in Friday night's win, while
Dillan McCombie and
Logan Harland both scored on Saturday.
Landon Peel had a fine weekend on the back end for the Cougars, with the second-year blueliner registering assists on three of the team's four goals.
Manitoba surrendered a late third-period goal last Friday and then an empty netter to fall 3-1 to Mount Royal in both teams' season opener, then saw MRU tally a three-goal first period en route to a 5-1 win on Saturday. Manitoba's key player is Jordan DePape, a forward back for his fourth season with the Bisons after leading Canada West in scoring and being named a second-team All-Canadian last year. The Bisons also get Shaq Merasty and Canada West All-Rookie Team members Brett Stovin and Adam Henry back this year, while returning goalies Justin Paulic and Byron Spriggs each got a start last weekend for Manitoba.
The schedule gets no easier for the Cougars after this weekend, with each of their next six games against teams currently ranked in the CIS Top Ten. They'll face No. 3-ranked Saskatchewan in a home-and-home next weekend before hosting No. 4 Alberta on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 and playing on the road at No. 8 Mount Royal on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12.
