CIS men's hockey Friday roundup: McGill's McKiernan tallies winner before second largest crowd since 1968

MONTREAL - Ryan McKiernan, a defenceman from White Plains, N.Y., scored the game-winner on a power-play at 13:49 of the second period as No.2-ranked McGill eked out a 3-2 victory over the Royal Military College Paladins, Friday, before 3,780 in men's hockey at the Verdun Auditorium in a rare morning game.

The event was part of a successful "Score with School" promotion by Rooths Sports Events that drew 68 busloads of students from 15 elementary and high schools from the Lester B. Pearson and English Montreal school boards. It marked the second-largest crowd since 1968 to see a university hockey game in Montreal and the biggest since Oct. 21, 2007 when 5,406 watched McGill defeat Concordia for the Ronald Corey Cup at the Bell Centre.

McGill jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Andrew Wright, a senior from Toronto, and Montrealer Nicolas Biniek, a sophomore, scored at 6:55 and 12:37, respectively.

RMC's Landon Lavictoire of Kirkland Lake, Ont., replied 56 seconds later to put the Paladins back in the game. After McKiernan made it 3-1 for the Redmen, the pesky Paladins narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the final period when Colin Cook of Halifax scored at 11:02.

It turned dicey for the Redmen in the dying moments when a minor scuffle resulted in an RMC powerplay with 74 seconds remaining. Paladins head coach Adam Shell, who played for McGill from 1999 to 2003, pulled netminder Matt Beirnes for an extra attacker.

McGill appeared to put the game out of reach with 35 seconds remaining when Maxime Langelier-Parent's clearing pass deflected off a linesman along the boards and redirected down the ice into the vacated net. But referee Mathieu Bergeron disallowed what would've been a shorthanded marker, citing a rule (78.5.3) that nullifies a goal "when the puck has deflected directly into the net off an official."

Other than the final score, McGill thoroughly dominated the game, holding a 43-20 advantage in shots against an under-manned RMC squad that dressed four players shy of a full 20-man lineup.

"RMC played a great strategic game against us, so full credit to Shell and his staff for getting the most out of a short bench," said Redmen head coach Kelly Nobes. "They were opportunistic on their scoring chances and defended very well using a 2-3 forecheck when they could pressure the puck and a 1-1-3 when they sat back."

Beirnes made 40 saves in a losing cause for the Paladins, while McGill goalkeeper Hubert Morin of St. George de Beauce, Que., stopped 18 pucks, improving his record to 7-2.

"Playing at 10:30 in the mornng was a bit of an adjustment for us," admitted McGill team captain Evan Vossen of Swift Current, Sask., who set his alarm for 5:45 a.m. in order to make the team's pre-game meal at 6:30 a.m. "But it was really loud and there was a lot of energy in the building which was good. It was great for us to promote the benefits of playing a sport at a high level while staying in school. I wish that I had had an opportunity to get a day off school to watch hockey when I was a kid. Everyone on the team was pretty pleased with how well run the event was."

It was the final contest of the semester for the division-leading Redmen, who enter the exam break with a stellar 13-1-2 record. They are off until Dec. 29-30, when they host the Waterloo Warriors (10-4-2) in a pair of non-conference games. RMC, which fell to 2-12-1, resumes play on Jan. 3 when they play at Queen's in the world's oldest ongoing hockey rivalry, which began in 1886. The McGill-RMC series began in 1892 and is the second-oldest rivalry and the Redmen now own a 51-8-4 record against the Paladins, including 10 consecutive wins since their last setback, a 2-1 decision in Kingston on Jan. 26, 2008. McGill will play RMC one more time, on Jan. 13, in the Limestone City. 

REDMEN RAP:  Among the faces in the crowd was Rooths president Martin Routhier (1993-98), who recently lost his all-time assist record for McGill defencemen. His mark of 108 helpers now ranks second to All-Canadian Marc-Andre Dorion, who has 134 assists in 150 games played after picking up a pair against the Paladins. Dorion, who was named CIS defenceman of the year in 2008-09, also holds the Redmen all-time record for career points scored by a blueliner (168)... Other Redmen grads spotted at the game included RMC assistant coach Chad Blundy (2000-05), Charlie Lafontaine (1948-49), Dr. Jay McMullan (1981-84), Mike Farmer (1976-79), Mike Nelson (1978-84), Ken Covo (1976-81), John Harris (1984-87), Pierre-Luc Gosselin (2004-06) and Stephen Brayne, principal of Greendale elementary school, who skated for the Redmen from 1975 to 1977.

Source: McGill Sports Info

FREDERICTON – It took overtime, but Friday night the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds defeated cross-campus rival St. Thomas 3-2 thanks to defenceman Bretton Stamler's two goals to close out the the first half of AUS men's hockey action in first place. UNB clearly dominated play for the first two periods while STU netminder Charles Lavinge kept his team in the game, while a controversial goal allowed the Tommies to tie the game in the third and penalties late in the game restricted UNB's efforts to break the tie and win the game in regulation time. It was the 175th edition of the Battle of the Hill, and UNB is now undefeated in their last 29 games against the Tommies.
 
It was a very large crowd of 3123 that came out to the Aitken University Centre to cheer on the two teams one week after UNB's dramatic 5-3 comeback win down the hill at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink, home of St. Thomas. To mark the occasion UNB debuted their new black throwback uniforms at the AUC; up to now they've only been worn as an alternate road jersey. Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) got his first start in the UNB nets since his emergency appendectomy on November 4, and he wasn't very busy in the early going. The first shot on net he had to handle didn't come until halfway through the first period, despite the fact that the Tommies had back to back power plays in the first five minutes with Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) called for roughing at 1:47 when he got tied up with Chris Morehouse in the corner, and defenceman Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) called for tripping while on the attack in the STU zone at 3:58.
 
At 5:29 UNB forward Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) converted a Ben Shutron (orleans, ON) point shot to get the first puck past Charles Lavinge (St. Bernardin, ON). It was Todd's first goal of the season and turned out to be the only goal of the period that saw UNB outshoot STU 14-3.
 
The second period was much like the first with UNB carrying most of the attack and the Tommies collapsing back in front of Lavigne to block shooting and passing lanes and get to rebounds. At 7:13 Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) had a great rush where he had two shots on Lavigne but couldn't get the puck by him and nine seconds later STU had a brief counterattack and were successful when rookie Stephen Sanza (London, ON) entered the UNB zone on a break and let a quick shot go from the right circle that beat Fullerton.
 
UNB kept pressing and later in the period they had the Tommies trapped in their own zone for several minutes before Bryan Main (Montreal, QC) took a cross-checking penalty at 14:13. The UNB power play only lasted until 14:57 when captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) was called for high sticking while battling for position in front of the STU net. Just as Main was getting out of the box UNB defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) rushed into the STU zone and snapped a shot that Lavigne made a glove save on, only to see the rebound go back to Stamler who buried the puck for a shorthanded goal. With two minutes to go in the period Lavigne made a better glove save to rob Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON). Shots in the second period were 21-4 for UNB.
 
The third period started much like the first period, with UNB having to kill off an early penalty, high sticking to Gallant at 1:50, and then the V-Reds taking another penalty shortly after getting back to even strength. This time it was a bench minor at 3:56 for too many men after a bad line change. Controversy came on the power play at 4:37. After a faceoff win in the left circle, Randy Cameron (Cornwall, PE) fired a shot that just dribbled though Fullerton's pads. Just as the puck reached the goal line, d-man Harty reached in with his stick and stopped the puck. Everyone in the northeast end of the AUC had a clear view of Harty getting to the puck before it crossed the goal line and tucking it back under Fullerton. The goal light did not go on. Yet referee Jeff Hopkins, on the other side of the net, indicated a goal as Cameron celebrated. UNB argued their case, and the fans howled, but there is no video goal review in the AUS.
 
After STU's Erick Tremblay (Gatineau, QC) was called for roughing UNB's Todd bumped into Lavigne and and was called for goaltender interference late in the power play. After a couple of minutes of even-strength play V-Red forwarf Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PE) was called for interference at 13:19. On the penalty kill Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) got his stick up on Cameron was was assessed a double-minor and the Tommies had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:44. UNB successfully killed off the penalties. Ten seconds after MacNeil got out of the box Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) made a nifty play to enter the STU zone and just missed the top corner with his shot on the rush. After releasing the puck Culligan kept skating and hammered a Tommies player along the boards, only to be called for charging at 17:45.
 
STU would then close out the period on the power play, and Fullerton made a game-saving play with his glove hand against Mike Reich with 18 seconds left on the clock. Shots in the third period were 9-5 for STU, with 7 of those shots coming on power plays.
 
The 4-on-4 overtime didn't last long and it was all UNB as they kept STU bottled up in their own zone. At 1:54 Matt Fillier (Durham, NS) won the battle for the puck in the corner and got it out to a pinching Stamler for the winner. UNB had three shots in OT and outshot STU 43-16 in the 3-2 victory. STU was 1-for-8 on the power play while UNB was 0-for-5.
 
On his two goals defenceman Stamler said, “If you get four-on-four opportunities there's a lot of open ice and we're encouraged to jump into the play. So we had a couple of opportunities this game where we were four-on-four. All of our defence are very mobile so it's really to our advantage. Guys are almost looking forward to it. They want it to happen.”
 
UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall was not worried about his team having their second straight close victory against the Tommies despite a wide margin in shots. “Obviously the key is to get the results when it is all said and done.” He added, “Take the win, move forward. It wasn't probably the way we wanted to script it, but when you look at the game and look at the first half it is kind of one of those special first half's.”
 
UNB enter the Christmas exam break in first place in the AUS with a 11-2-1 record and the #1 ranking in the CIS Top 10 polls every week so far this season. The Varsity Reds will be back in action with a pair of exhibition games against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on December 30th and 31st, and they will return to conference play when they host StFX and Saint Mary's the first weekend of the new year on January 6th and 7th.
 
Game Notes: The three stars were No.1 Bretton Stamler, No.2 Charles Lavigne, No.3 Antoine Houde-Caron. UNB were 40-22 on the faceoff dot. Not only was this the 29th straight victory for the V-Reds over the Tommies in the Battle of the Hill, but UNB extended their home winning streak over STU to 26 games. The last time the Tommies beat the V-Reds at the AUC was February 28th, 2003 (137th Battle of the Hill).

Source: UNB Sports Info

WOLFVILLE, NS - The CIS #7 ranked Acadia Axemen lost their final game before the Christmas holidays 4-2 against the Saint Mary’s Huskies, landing the Axemen on a two game losing streak before the break. Friday’s game marked the end of Acadia’s fall semester, and the Axemen will now head into a four week break before playing again in January.

The Axemen came into Friday's game with only four Defencemen dressed to play after losing Axeman Leo Jenner to injury last Sunday aginst StFX. Despite the slight handicap, the Axemen and the Huskies played a tight defensive game in the first period, providing only five shots on net a peice. The Huskies, however, managed to take a 2-1 lead over Acadia after one period of play.

Saint Mary's opened the score with a powerplay goal coming from Huskie Colby Pridham near the midway point of the first. After several minutes of back and forth play, Axeman veteran forward Andrew Clark managed to dance his way past the Saint Mary's defence and slid the puck past Huskie rookie keeper Anthony Peters, potting his ninth goal of the season and tying the game at one.

Husky Michael Strickland, however, scored a quick goal of his own several seconds after Clark’s goal to make it a 2-1 game in favour of the visiting Huskies. Strickland received a pass in the slot and fired a shot top shelf, beating Axemen keeper Evan Mosher and subduing Acadia’s momentum for the remainder of the period.

The second period of the game saw more emotion and tension between the Huskies and the Axemen. Although the period closed out with the score still in favour of Saint Mary’s, a 10-9 shots on goal advantage for the Axemen created some early third period momentum for Acadia.

The majority of the third period played out much like the first, with tight defensive play coming from both ends of the rink. Unlike the first period, however, tempers flared between the Huskies and the Axemen that created several scrums in the Huskie zone. Several game misconducts were handed out while roughing penalties were becoming commonplace.

Nearing the final minutes of the game, Huskie defencemen Michael D’Orazio scored a powerplay goal from the point to extend Saint Mary’s lead to 3 over the Axemen. Acadia, however, would responed quickly to Saint Mary's powerplay goal with a goal coming from Axeman rookie forward Alex Beaton. Beaton would score his sixth goal of the season to cut Saint Mary’s lead over Acadia to one.

Despite gaining momentum off of Beaton's goal, Rookie Huskie Gerrard Grant manged to score in the dying minutes of the game to solidify Saint Mary's win with a final score of 4-2 over the Axemen. Shots on goal for the period tallied at 7-6 Acadia, making the final tally of shots on goal 22-20 in favour of the Axemen.

The Axemen drop to 9-5-1 while Saint Mary's improves to 10-5-1. Acadia is now fourth in the AUS conference with a total of 19 points, while Saint Mary's moved up to second with a total of 21 points.

Anthony Peters was awarded the third star of the game for his strong efforts between the posts. Axeman Alex Beaton took the second star honours, while the first start of the game went to Huskie senior Colby Pridham.

Axemen Hockey will return after the Christmas break to host the St. Thomas Tommies on Friday, December 30 in exhibition play. The Axemen will then start fresh in 2012 regular season against the visiting Moncton Aigles Bleus on Friday, January 6 at 7:00 PM.

Notes: Acadia blueliner Leo Jenner will recover from a spleen injury recieved during Acadia's Nov. 27 loss to StFX. The hope is that Jenner will return in late January. Defenseman Cullen Morin, who has missed several weeks due to injury, will hope to return for the second half of the season along with Jacob Dietrich.

Source: Graeme Heaven, Acadia Sports Info

OTTAWA - The Concordia University Stingers cruised to a 7-2 victory over the Carleton University Ravens men’s hockey team on Friday night at the Ice House.
 
The Ravens were quick to pounce on their Quebec opponent. Midway through the opening frame, Joey Manley (Ottawa) fired a stretch pass to captain Brandon MacLean (Burlington, Ont.) who tucked in a nifty backhand shot on a breakaway to give his team the early advantage.
 
The Ravens used their speed to out-chance their opponent but had trouble beating Stingers netminder Nicholas Champion (Labrador City, Nfld.).
 
Carleton kept up the pressure in the second period, outshooting Concordia 8-1 and hitting two posts in the first eight minutes.
 
But that only set the stage for a disastrous 10 minutes for the Ravens. George Lovatsis (Markham, Ont.) scored to tie things up before Francis Lanctot-Marcotte (Boucherville, Que.) notched one of his own just three minutes later to give Concordia a 2-1 lead.
 
The Ravens had a chance to tie things up on the power play. However, even with the man advantage, they still gave up two breakaways and Lovatsis potted his second of the game on one of them.
 
The third Stingers goal in five minutes chased Matthew Dopud (Pointe-Claire, Que.) from the net and his replacement, Ryan Dube (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.), didn’t fare much better.
 
Eric Begin (St. Lambert, Que.) scored from behind the net by banking it off the Ravens netminder to build a commanding 4-1 lead by period’s end.
 
Things went from bad to worse for Carleton. Alexis Piette (Repentigny, Que.), Charles-Antoine Messier (Boucherville, Que.) and Lovatsis added three goals in the first five minutes of the third, for a commanding 7-1 lead.
 
Manley rounded out the scoring with six minutes to go in the game.
 
Champion was fantastic in net for Concordia, making 36 saves en route to the win.
 
Carleton will have a chance for redemption tomorrow at 3 p.m. in a marquee match against the UQTR Patriotes at the Ice House.

Source: Eric Balnar, Carleton Sports Info

OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT Ridgebacks men’s hockey team fell 3-2 to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday night at the Campus Ice Centre.

Although pucks were flying onto the ice for the Campus Food Drive chuck-a-puck campaign, not enough were finding the back of Toronto’s net as the Varsity Blues skated away with the one goal victory.

Getting off to a slow start seems to be the Ridgebacks Achilles heel this season as they fell behind again 2-0 after twenty minutes as Byron Elliott and Matt Walters scored for Toronto.

After Kyle Ventura made it 3-0 for the Varsity Blues, starting goalie Jason Guy was pulled for Jeff Dawson.

That seemed to wake up the UOIT scorers as Josh Vatri notched a power play goal to cut the Toronto lead to 3-1. Kody Musselman and James Woodcroft drew assists on the play.

In the third period, Mike Noyes scored an unassisted goal to bring the Ridgebacks within a goal, but Toronto goalkeeper Garrett Sheehan shut the door the rest of the way on UOIT as he picked up the win.

The Ridgebacks penalty killing unit did an outstanding job as Toronto went 0-for-9 with the man advantage. Finals shots were 40-39 in favour of UOIT.

Dawson stopped all 22 shots he faced in just under three periods of work.

The Ridgebacks are 3-13-0 on the year and have loss four straight decisions. Toronto on the other hand is 8-5-3 in league play.

UOIT will close out the 2011 portion of their schedule on Saturday night as they host the Ryerson Rams. Game time at the Campus Ice Centre is 7:30 p.m.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 6-16-0
Conference Record: 3-13-0

Next Home Game: Sat. Dec. 3 vs. Ryerson (7:30 p.m.) – Campus Ice Centre

Source: UOIT Sports Info

LONDON, Ont. – The Western mens hockey team hosted the Guelph Gryphons Friday night at Thompson Arena and came out on top 6-4 in a physical game.
 
The Gryphons came out firing on all cylinders as they found themselves up 1-0 just 54 seconds into the first period on a goal courtesy of Cale Jefferies. Jamie MacIntre and Patrick Campbell earned assists.
 
Minutes later at 4:41 Marco Franchini came down the wing and beat Mustangs goalie Alain Valiquette high glove side to put the Gryphons up 2-0 early.
 
Western was able to respond at 7:20 when Chris Rocca from Shaun Furlong and Dominic Desando brought the Mustangs to within one.
 
Keaton Turkiewicz knotted things up at two on an unassisted break-a-way goal at 9:54 in which he elected to go high glove on Gryphons goaltender Cody St. Jacques.
 
Western took its first lead of the game while playing 4 on 4. A nice passing play from Steve Reese and Andrew Eastman was finished by Zach Harnden at 11:31 of the second.
 
Guelph responded shortly after at 13:38. Captain Kris Belan went high glove side on Valiquette while shorthanded to tie things up once again, this time at three.
 
The Mustangs came out flying in the third, particularly Kevin Baker and Turkiewicz. Turkiewicz notched two goals while adding an assist and Baker pitched in with two helpers to give the Mustangs a three-goal lead.
 
As Western took control of the game mid way through the third, the game started to get chippy. Battles out front of the net and plays after the whistle lead to some physical play by both teams, keeping the fans on the edge of their seats.
 
Guelph came within two as Belan potted his second of the game at 16:37 from Jon Thomas Macdonald and Ken Peroff on the powerplay, but that was as close as they would get.
 
Western will enjoy a break, as they do not return to action until January 6th/12 when they host the Laurier Golden hawks. For tickets go to http://westernmustangstickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/category.asp?id=83. 

Source: Western Sports Info

WINNIPEG - After giving up a victory in a controversial post-game decision the last time the two teams played, the No. 9 ranked Manitoba Bisons and No. 3 ranked Alberta Golden Bears men’s hockey teams faced off for the first time since October 15, at the Max Bell Centre in Winnipeg.

Bisons’ netminder Jesse Deckert was the story of the game, stopping 34 shots in a 3-2 victory for Manitoba on Friday, December 2.

The Bisons’ goals were scored by Brendan Rowinski, Travis Mealy and Blair Macaulay. 

Alberta’s two goals were netted by Levko Koper and Kruise Reddick.

With the results of tonight’s game the Manitoba Bisons climb to 10-3-2 on their season, and the Golden Bears fall to 10-2-2. Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan are all tied for first place now in the Canada West division, with 22 points each.

“We expected a tough game against Alberta,” said Bisons head coach Mike Sirant. “In the end we just grinded out a win. We went into the third 3-2 at home, in good shape, but there were times we really had to battle in our defensive zone, and our guys really came together and pulled out a hard fought win. We got some timely goals at the end of the first period, our special teams got an important goal, and our penalty killing was strong again.”

With the win, Manitoba has extended their conference win streak to four games and victorious in six of the last seven Canada West games while Alberta win conference streak is now snapped at seven games.

The first period didn’t start well for the Bisons, as Alberta controlled most of the play and was quick to shut down any offense that it looked like Manitoba might be generating. Just over five minutes into the period, the Golden Bears’ Levko Koper put his team up on the board after taking a slick pass from Jordan Hickmott on a 2-on-1 play, and Alberta led 1-0 early on.

As the period progressed, the Bisons looked like they were having a hard time getting anything going, when an opportunity presented itself in the form of Alberta’s Ben Lindemulder sitting for two on a hooking penalty. With the power play unit out, Manitoba’s Myles Rumsey let a weak shot go from the point, with traffic in front, that Alberta’s net minder Real Cyr clearly couldn’t see, as it slipped through his five-hole and into the cage, tying the game at 1-1.

With just over a minute left on the clock, the Golden Bears took yet another penalty, giving the Bisons a great opportunity to put up another goal and take the lead into the locker room. It looked like time was going to expire at a tie game, when Travis Mealy took a pass from captain Mike Hellyer that he thought twice about shooting, finally letting loose a slap shot that sailed over the right shoulder of Cyr, lighting the lamp with three seconds left to make it a 2-1 Manitoba lead.

The Bisons opened the second period with a bang, scoring just two minutes into the third to go up 3-1. Macaulay picked up the goal with a wrist shot from the point, assisted by Myles Rumsey.

Just when Manitoba looked to have complete control of the game, forcing turnovers and controlling the play, the Golden Bears brought a stop to it when Kruise Reddick smacked the puck into the cage during a scrum in front of the Bisons’ goaltender Jesse Deckert, making the score 3-2 Manitoba.

Before the period was through, Darren Bestlund laid an untimely hit to the head on Reddick, and was given a two-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct for the play.

The third period was a battle of the goaltenders as neither team could manage to put another point up on the board, and the Bisons’ Jesse Deckert came away with the well-deserved player of the game honours, as the total shots were 39-36 Alberta.

The two teams will face off again Saturday, December 3 evening in a rematch at the Max Bell Centre at 7 p.m. CT.

Source: Manitoba Sports Info

SASKATOON - Chris Durand tallied a hat trick in a 10-2 University of Saskatchewan Huskies victory over the visiting University of Regina Cougars Friday night at Saskatoon’s Rutherford Rink.

Fourth-year Durand scored at 4:27 and 5:06 in the second period and 6:04 in the third to lead the Huskies to the victory. He finished the night with five points.

In the win seven different Huskies tallied in the game including Canada West leading scorer Kyle Bortis twice, as well as Derek Hulak, Andrew Bailey, Shaun Vey, Craig McCallum and Michael Kaye each also added goals. Bortis and Kaye each finished the game with four points.

With the win the No. 6 ranked Huskies move to 10-2-2, while the Cougars drop to 4-9-2.

After the Huskies killed off a five-on-three, Bortis opened the scoring on a cross-ice pass from Hulak to snap the puck in the net before Cougar netminder Lucas Gore could slide across for the stop at 8:01 on the power play. Vey made it a two goal game 1:42 later when Gore once again wasn’t able get over to cover the post.

Saskatchewan found the net twice more in the frame. Hulak scored another power play goal at 13:41 with a shot from the point and Bailey added the fourth goal at 17:26.

Troy Moltz started the second period for the Cougars but didn’t fair any better allowing the two goals to Durand in the first six minutes of the period. Bortis added his second of the game at 16:50.

Saskatchewan put the puck in the net three more times in the third period. Kaye added the Huskies eighth goal at 1:03, followed by Durand’s third of the game at 6:04 and McCallum’s goal at 9:43.

Regina’s goals came in the first and third periods. Partik Bhungal sent a quick pass to Lucas Isley on the power play at 14:23 and Craig Cuthbert beat Huskie goalie David Reekie’s glove at 12:29 in the third.

Gore made 11 saves in the first period and Moltz finished the game making 17 saves in two periods of play. Reekie stopped 22 shots at the other end of the ice.

Saskatchewan finished 3-for-5 with man advantage, while Regina was 2-for-8.

The provincial foes will battle again Saturday. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at Rutherford Rink.

Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info