SASKATOON, Sask. - The U SPORTS No. 9-ranked Huskies fell to the visiting Mount Royal University Cougars, ranked 2nd in the nation, on Friday night (Oct. 25) by a final score of 4-0. The loss drops Saskatchewan's record to 4-3 while the Cougars continue their hot start to the season, remaining unbeaten at 7-0. 

MRU maintained their unblemished record thanks primarily to a plethora of Huskie penalties. Saskatchewan took eleven trips to the penalty box, including a ten-minute game misconduct and ejection issued to Ethan Regnier for a check from behind early in the second period.

In total, the Huskies were issued 47 penalty minutes during the game, including two game misconducts and two double-minor high sticking calls.

Armed with the top ranked power play unit in the Canada West (31.1%), the Cougars capitalized twice on the man advantage on goals from Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Josh Tarzwell in the second and third periods. 

The two power-play tallies added to an earlier Cougar goal from Justin Lies who opened the scoring in the first period, netting his fifth goal of the season. 

Mount Royal would add an empty net goal in the third, rounding their total to four and sealing the victory for the Cougars.

Tonight's penalty parade adds to what has been a sore spot for the Huskies over the early part of the season, having already accumulated a conference-high 127 penalty minutes entering tonight's action.

Considering the time spent on the penalty kill, Huskies' goaltender Rody Ross did well to keep the Dogs in the fight for the majority of the game. The fourth-year goaltender stopped 33 of 36 shots on the night and has now faced a total of 141 shots over four games played this season. Despite the high shot volume, Ross has still managed to maintain a respectable 2.47 GAA and a .929 save percentage. 

On the other end of the ice, Cougars netminder Shane Farkas was perfect over three periods of play, stopping all twenty shots he faced. Through four games played this season, the Canada West reigning Goaltender of the Year has given up a mere four goals, boasting a stellar .956 save percentage to go along with a 1.00 GAA and two shutouts. 

The Huskies will need to inject some disciplined play into their game tomorrow night if they hope to break the Cougars unbeaten streak and earn the weekend split. 

UP NEXT
Saskatchewan takes on the Mount Royal Cougars Saturday October 26th at 5:00pm for the second game of their weekend series at Merlis Belscher Place. Get your tickets at HuskieTickets.com or catch all the action live on CanadaWest.tv.