Despite missing three of its top five scorers and its starting goaltender, the University of Regina's men's hockey team defeated the No. 4-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies by a 7-4 score in Canada West action at The Co-operators Centre on Friday night.

Six straight Regina goals helped put the Cougars in the win column to open up the 2022 calendar year. Curtis Meger picked up his second win between the pipes this season after stopping 45 of 49 Saskatchewan shots while both Turner Ripplinger and Brennan Riddle collected three points apiece in the victory.

"We're excited," Cougars head coach Todd Johnson said. "It's been a few years since we've beaten the U of S. It's pretty special for the players to do it shorthanded, and I'm very proud of the effort that we put forward tonight."

Regina's Randen Schmidt opened the scoring in the first period off a rebound from a Riddle shot. The Huskies retaliated with three consecutive goals off the sticks of Vince Loschiavo, Chantz Petruic, and Alec Zawatsky to put the visitors up 3-1 early in the second.

The Cougars' middle-frame comeback was kickstarted after Ripplinger scored following Saskatchewan goalie Jordan Kooy misplaying the puck in the corner. Bryce Platt finished off a nice tic-tac-toe play from Ripplinger and Mike Eskra next, then Riddle floated in a shot from the blue line to give the Cougars a 4-3 lead heading into the third.

Regina put the game out of reach with three goals in the first half of the third period, starting with Brady Pouteau's first as a Cougar. Tyler Heidt added another on the power play, and the U of R's scoring was capped by Austin King-Cunningham's first U SPORTS goal just over a minute later.

Connor Hobbs added a goal just over a minute after King-Cunningham's goal, but that was as close as Saskatchewan would come.

Regina, which has now claimed 13 out of a possible 14 points in its last seven games, look to sweep the home-and-home series against Saskatchewan in Saskatoon tomorrow night. Game time is set for 7:00 at Merlis Belsher Place.

NOTES: Friday's win was the U of R's first over Saskatchewan since Feb. 13, 2016 ... the Huskies had won 18 consecutive games over the Cougars heading into the weekend.