REGINA, Sask. – The U SPORTS No. 7-ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies scored four third period goals Friday night in The Queen City to defeat the Regina Cougars 6-1, earning their 10th win of the season and third over their provincial rivals.

With the victory, the Huskies improve to 10-4-1 and continue their back-and-forth with the MRU Cougars for second-place in the Canada West East Division. Meanwhile the Cougars fall to 2-13-0 and suffer a fourth consecutive loss.

Friday's contest saw the Cougars quickly find themselves down a man, taking a penalty just 12 seconds in the opening frame. The violation was one of two committed by Regina in the first, however the Huskies were unable to convert on either.

Despite coming into the game with nearly half as many goals scored this season, Regina found the back of the net first. 11 minutes into the frame a point shot led to a favourable rebound for the home team, and with Huskie goaltender Bryan Thomson unable to get back in time, the Cougars took the early lead.

Thomson would recover well from the early Regina tally, stopping 24 of 25 shots faced in the contest to earn his fourth win.

Five minutes after the Cougars opened the scoring, Carter Stebbings kick started a Huskie rush which saw Ben Tkachuk alone on a breakaway. The third-year forward beat Cougar goaltender Damon Cunningham which a bar down wrist shot, or so he thought. Despite the play not being ruled as a goal at the time, a stoppage shortly after saw officials confirm Tkachuk's first of the season.

Coming out for the second period, it took the Dogs just under five minutes to take their first lead. After a fantastic effort on the forecheck, Braxton Buckberger forced a Regina turnover deep in their own zone. The puck came out to the slot where a wide-open Zack Somers took a close range shot before burying in the rebound for his first career U SPORTS goal.

Following a tightly-contested 15 minutes of second period action, the contest remained a one-goal game heading into the third.

In the opening minutes of the third, Chantz Petruic recorded his 14th goal of the season, extending the Saskatchewan lead to two after tipping a Rhett Rhinehart blast from the point. Less than three minutes later the veteran goal scorer was back at it, receiving a beautiful pass from Chase Bertholet in tight for his fifth multi goal game this season.

With 15 goals in 13 games, Petruic not only leads Canada West in scoring, but also ranks third in the nation.

Rhett Rhinehart and Raphael Pelletier would then secure the Huskie road win with their third and fourth goals of the season individually, stretching the final score to 6-1 in favour of the visitors.

The victory extended the Huskies' win streak against their U-Prairie Challenge, presented by SaskMilk, rivals to 16 games, dating back to the 2021-22 season. Saskatchewan will look to make it 17 and pick up an 11th win this season Saturday night, when the team returns to the ice at Merlis Belsher Place for their final game before the Christmas break. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM, with tickets available at HuskieTickets.com.