By Jesse Couture

Lethbridge - Three unanswered goals in the opening frame was enough for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies to hold off the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, Friday night, as they held on for a 3-2 regulation win in the first half of a two-game weekend series.

Michael Soffilas led the charge offensively for the Huskies, netting two goals, while Sean Aschim rounded out the Huskie scoring. Brock Hirsche scored both of the Lethbridge goals.

Damien Ketlo returned from injury to get the start for Lethbridge and faced sixteen shots in the opening period before being relieved by Warren Shymko at the start of the second period, who went on to stop all eighteen of the shots he faced.

Box Score

Ryan Holfeld saw a total 33 shots on the night and turned aside all but two for the Huskies. 

Soffilas scored the game's first goal, on the power play, at 5:48. Skating hard into the 'Horns end on a breakaway, the first-year forward put the puck on target and it managed to sneak under the arm of Ketlo to give his team an early 1-0 lead.

With six seconds remaining on another Huskie power play, Aschim took a quick centering pass from Matthew Delahey and fired a wrister high glove-side that soared past an unsuspecting Ketlo to quickly double his team's lead.

The Huskies kept up the pressure on Ketlo throughout the opening frame. Kendall McFaull's hard blast from just inside the blue line hit the post and, after a big face-off win in their own end, Sofillas outskated the Lethbridge defense, this time with Josh Roach, and went hard to the net before letting a soft shot go that would trickle past Ketlo and into the back of the net. 

Hirsche put the Pronghorns on the scoreboard less than five minutes into the second period. A well-timed centering pass from Cass Mappin found the former Prince George Cougar in perfect position in front of the net, where he quickly put it away for his fourth goal of the season.

Still riding the momentum of their first goal, the Pronghorns continued their push back and struck again, less than four minutes later, to get back within one. A well-executed cycle down low saw Mappin, once again, dish Hirsche a great one-timer feed and the second-year center rose to the occasion, stepping into it for his second of the night.

As the third period got underway, Lethbridge was desperately looking for the equalizing goal, while the Huskies tried to find a way to extend their lead. Ryon Moser, Brandon Clowes, and Mike Forsyth's efforts were each turned aside confidently by Holfeld and, at the other end, Shymko was strong between the pipes, shutting down solid scoring chances from Josh Roach and Matthew Spafford. Despite great chances from each side, however, neither would manage to convert.

With this win, the Huskies improve to 7-8-0, while Lethbridge sits at 3-12-0. 

Game two of the weekend series is set for Saturday night, at Nicholas Sheran Arena, puck drop is set for 7:00pm and the game will also be streamed live onhttp://canadawest.tv..