Golden Bears show Regina who’s boss
Cougars men’s hockey team drops a pair of Canada West home games to Alberta last weekend
Autumn McDowell
Sports Writer
The Cougar men’s hockey team found out the hard way why the Alberta Golden Bears are currently at the top of Canada West, as Alberta swept Regina in a pair of games last weekend.
The Cougars took a 5-0 beating on Friday, and were also defeated on Saturday by a count of 4-2.
Night one posted a relatively hideous score for the home team as the Cougars were unable to register a point through three periods and handed Alberta’s rookie net minder Kurtis Mucha his first shut-out of the season.
The competition was much tighter on the second night of the series as the Cougars were actually able to put some points on the board. Although the Cougars were unable to register a victory this weekend, Carter Selinger and Ryan Sawka were both able to plot their second goals of the season.
When asked about the goal, Selinger said “It was good to get that one, it was a really nice pass from [Matt Strueby]. It’s just too bad that it was in a losing effort.”
The Cougars were quick to open up the scoring on night two, as Sawka scored a power-play goal merely a minute into the game. Sawka took a feed on the point from Dillon Johnstone and ripped one towards Alberta’s goalie Real Cyr. After clipping Cyr’s shoulder, the puck sailed into the net, putting the Green and Gold up 1-0. Alberta replied roughly four minutes later with their own power-play goal, coming courtesy of Ben Lindemulder, which evened things up at one.
The scoring continued throughout the first as Cougar rookie Selinger took a pass from Strueby and put it top shelf to record his second goal as a Cougar. With the goal, the Cougars also regained the lead, but the Golden Bears once again replied as Johnny Lazo managed to get one past Adam Ward to even things up at two heading into the first intermission.
Alberta was able to get its first lead of the game as the top scorer in the conference, Chad Klassen, went to work. Klassen lit the lamp just over a minute into the second and then added a helper on Derek Ryan’s power play goal midway through the third. After Alberta gained their two-goal lead, they didn’t look back. The Cougars were unable to sink another one past Cyr after the first period flurry and took the loss.
Sitting at 4-8-0 the Cougars are sixth in the conference. After sweeping the weekend series, Alberta’s record improves to 9-1-0, which leaves them comfortably in first in the conference.
The Cougars hit the road this week to take on the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, who sit dead last in the conference at 2-4-2. The Cougars should be the superior team and will hopefully be able to take home four much-needed points.
