SATURDAY: vs. Saskatchewan, 7 p.m., The Co-operators Centre.

The University of Regina men's hockey team will close its 2015-16 season this weekend with a pair of games against the provincial rival Saskatchewan Huskies. The weekend will feature Friday night's game in Saskatoon and Saturday's game at The Co-operators Centre. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts.

Regina (6-20) has been eliminated from playoff contention, and is coming off a split against the UBC Thunderbirds. UBC handed the Cougars a 5-3 loss on Saturday but Regina snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday night with a 2-1 win. Sanfred King, Cody Fowlie and Austin Bourhis scored goals on Friday before Stephen Langford scored his first Canada West goal as a part of Saturday's win. Bourhis also scored on Saturday, notching his fourth of the season for the game-winning goal.

"I thought we played well enough to win on both nights – we just had a couple unlucky bounces on Friday," head coach Todd Johnson said. "I was really impressed with the resiliency of the guys, it's a tough spot to be in when you know you're not making the playoffs but they kept the motivation high and they didn't quit."

Dawson MacAuley was solid in Friday's loss, stopping 42 of the 46 shots that were directed his way. Mitch Kilgore got the nod on Saturday and was impressive in the win, making 28 saves en route to his third victory of the campaign.

Saskatchewan comes into the weekend with a conference-best 21-5-0 record, which has clinched the Huskies the top spot in Canada West. The No. 3-ranked Huskies lost two games on the road against Alberta last weekend, snapping their nine-game winning streak.

The Cougars and Huskies met back in October for a home-and-home set, which the Huskies swept with 3-1 and 6-2 wins over the Cougars.
"It'll be easy for us to carry the enthusiasm from last weekend into this one, it's a chance to knock off one of the best teams in the country," Johnson added. "Obviously both teams are a lot different at this point but everyone's a little more polished in the second half of the season, so we're looking forward to the challenge."

Ian McNulty is the Cougars' leading scorer entering the weekend, with eight goals and seven assists through 26 games. Miguel Pereira is right behind with seven goals and seven assists, while J.J. Coleshaw and Cody Fowlie have each registered six goals and seven helpers. Bourhis is the leading points man among defencemen, with four goals and six assists.

Kilgore and Dawson MacAuley have split most of the action in between the pipes for the Cougars, with Kilgore making 15 appearances and the rookie MacAuley seeing the ice 12 times. Kilgore has posted a save percentage of .867 and a 4.89 goals-against average while MacAuley has hit marks of .901 and 3.93.

Saskatchewan is led by a trio of rookies, as forward Kohl Bauml is leading the conference in rookie scoring with 11 goals and 21 assists. First-year forwards Levi Cable and Andrew Johnson are next in the Huskies scoring race with 25 and 24 points respectively. Defender Jordan Fransoo has tallied three goals and 15 assists while John Lawrence and Josh Roach are also in the mix with 17 points apiece.

Jordan Cooke has been the main feature in net for Saskatchewan, making 23 appearances in 26 games. The second-year goaltender has a 2.50 GAA and leads Canada West with a .921 save percentage.