Box Score

CALGARY – Teague Patton's three point night led the Mount Royal University Cougars to a 6-4 win over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the Canada West men's hockey regular season finale at Flames Community Arenas.

Tied at 40 points, first place was up for grabs heading into Saturday's contest with a bye to the semifinals on the line.

Mount Royal started out hot, taking it to the Huskies early.

The Cougars were awarded the games first powerplay and made the Huskies pay. Justin Lies picked him his second goal of the weekend and 15th the campaign with a perfect rip from the faceoff dot, off the far post and in.

Just over a minute later, Mount Royal doubled up on the Huskies. Teague Patton scored his first goal in eight games with a skillful play on the doorstep of the net, lifting the puck up and over the pad of Nolan Maier. Patton motioned ripped the invisible monkey off his back heading to the bench to celebrate with his teammates.

Patton wasn't done there. The second-year speedster got his second of the period after stealing the puck from Huskies winger Raphael Pelletier and firing a shot into the top corner. 

Maier was given the hook after letting in three goals on 13 shots. Fifth-year netminder Jordan Kooy entered the game in relief. 

The Cougars took a commanding 3-0 lead into the intermission after dominating the Huskies in the first period.

Saskatchewan got their first powerplay of the game early in the second but were stifled by the MRU penalty kill led by Blake Stevenson.

Midway through the period, the Cougars added another one to make it 4-0. Vaughn Watterodt continued his hot streak, scoring his sixth goal in his last seven games. 

The Huskies cut the deficit back to three just past the halfway point of the game. Chase Bertholet potted his tenth of the year, beating the outstretched pad of Shane Farkas.

In the second half of the period, momentum shifted heavily in favour of the Huskies. Farkas was forced to come up big between the pipes for MRU. The Cougars escaped the period still leading by three.

In the third, the Huskies were noticeably better and had the Cougars on their heels. Dawson Holt scored to cut the Cougar lead to just two. 

MRU captain Kyle Walker wasn't surprised by the Huskies laying on the pressure.

"It's inevitable with a good team like [Saskatchewan]. They are going to have a pushback. They are well-coached, have great leadership," said Walker. "Of course there's going to be teetering moments in the game but it's about how we manage it and how we stay calm and collected."

In need of some much needed insurance, the captain delivered. On the powerplay, Walker sent a howitzer of a one-timer into the top corner to make it 5-2. The FCA crowd erupted for the massive goal.

But there was still a lot of hockey left to play. 

With under ten minutes to play, Cade Hayes scored to make it a two goal game once again.

Time kept trickling away but the Huskies wouldn't go away. 

Jordan Kooy headed to the bench to give Saskatchewan an extra attacker. Chantz Petruic scored his league-leading 18th of the year to make it a one goal game. 

The Huskies were penalized late, putting their comeback in jeopardy. Holt headed off for slashing. 

Vaughn Watterdot iced the game and the season with an empty netter. For the second year in a row, the Mount Royal Cougars are division champions and heading back to the Canada West semifinal.

For their captain, it was hard to imagine that they got to this point after a sluggish start to the campaign.

"I didn't think we had a chance to get to this point," said Walker. "Especially with how tough our division is with U of S and Calgary. The odds of us getting here were probably pretty low. But our group is so tight. We trusted ourselves and knew we had a good enough team to get here."

In addition to the win, it was a milestone night for Cougars' start forward Connor Bouchard. The veteran winger set the MRU record for all-time points for both the ACAC and U SPORTS eras of the Cougars. He had previously set the U SPORTS era  record earlier this season but now holds sole possession of first overall. He passed Moe Halat who played from 1999 to 2003. Bouchard finishes his fourth year at Mount Royal with 171 total points.

Finishing second place in the division, the Huskies are set to host the #3 team in the West Division, the University of Alberta Golden Bears. The quarterfinal series is set to begin next Friday.

Mount Royal will enjoy a bye week and get set for the semifinal series in two weeks and await the undecided opponent.