The University of Regina men's hockey team battled hard but was on the losing end of a tight 2-1 contest at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Friday evening.

Rookie forward Maxwell James had both goals for UBC, as the Thunderbirds go to 8-5-0 with the win. Tyler King scored for the Cougars, who drop to 2-10-1 and see their losing streak grow to seven games.

Rylan Toth was the winning netminder, stopping 21 shots for UBC for his sixth win of the season. Dawson MacAuley made 39 saves between the pipes for Regina.

All three goals came in the second period, with James scoring at the 3:59 and 15:42 marks. Tyler Sandhu set up both goals, while Joe Carvalho and Devan Fafard also picked up assists.

King cut the lead down to one with less than a minute left in the second period, scoring his fourth of the season off an assist from Zach McPhee.

The Cougars were unable to find the equalizer, despite sending 12 shots in the direction of Toth in the final period.

Regina and UBC will square off again on Saturday afternoon, with puck drop scheduled for 2 p.m. local time.