University of Regina Sports Information
REGINA - Morgan Zulinick scored twice in the third period as Mount Royal took a 4-2 win and the weekend sweep from the University of Regina men's hockey team on Saturday afternoon.
Zulinick scored the winner with 1:42 to play in regulation, then iced it with an empty netter at 19:49. Tanner Olstad and Michael Roberts also scored for the visitors as MRU moves to 8-9-1 with the win.
Tyson Predinchuk and Tristan Frei replied for Regina as the Cougars fall to 3-13-2.
Regina nearly tied the game in the dying seconds, as Zak Zborosky sent a perfect cross ice feed to Cody Fowlie, but the Cougar captain's shot rang off the post. Seconds later Zulinick knocked the puck away from danger and the puck slid the length of the ice into the empty Regina goal.
Dawson MacAuley made 32 saves in the loss, while Cam Lanigan picked up another win by stopping 27 shots.
The Cougars looked much sharper out of the gate on Saturday afternoon, adapting to MRU's fast style of play. It was the home team that opened the scoring, as Predinchuk scored his first of the season at the 9:52 mark. The second-year forward took a feed in the slot from Ian McNulty and beat Lanigan with a quick wrist shot to the glove side.
Predinchuk's goal was the only marker of the first period, as Regina outshot the visitors 10-8 in the opening frame. MRU was first to the scoreboard in the second, as Olstad sniped one from a tough angle right after the Cougars had killed off a Landon Peel high-sticking penalty. Mount Royal took the lead at the 9:21 mark, as a hard MRU rush knocked MacAuley into the net and the puck went with him. Despite the Cougar protests, Roberts was credited with his first of the Canada West campaign.
Regina answered a few minutes later, as Fowlie took a big hit in the neutral zone but was able to get the puck ahead to Ben Duperreault. Duperreault had Frei on his left and outwaited a sliding defender before putting a pass right on the tape of Frei who fired it home to draw the Cougars even.
Zulinick's game winner came on a rebound in the slot, with the third-year forward shovelling a backhanded effort past the pad of MacAuley for his fourth goal of the season.
The Cougars will be back at home next weekend with a matchup against the fourth-place UBC Thunderbirds. Mount Royal will square off against Lethbridge in a home-and-home series.