SASKATOON – In a rematch of last season's Canada West semifinal, the Mount Royal Cougars men's hockey team defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 6-2 to pick up the series sweep on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Merlis Belsher Place.
 
Ryley Lindgren registered the first hattrick of his Canada West career for the Cougars, while fellow third-year forward Chris Gerrie tallied two goals. After redshirting last season for the Cougars, Keegan Iverson tallied five assists on the night, to cap off a tremendous six-point weekend in his first pair of games in the Canada West. Connor Chartier and Brad Kennedy also found the back of the net, while Jamal Watson and Andrew Fyten each recorded an assist each.
 
Logan McVeigh and Levi Cable registered the goals for the Huskies, while Collin Shirley and Gordie Ballhorn each added a helper.
 
Second-year Cougars netminder Riley Morris stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced.
 
At the other end, Taran Kozun stopped 18 of 24 shots on the night for Saskatchewan in 47:53 minutes of action, while Travis Child turned 5 of 6 shots he faced in 12:07. 
 
For the second consecutive season, Mount Royal starts the year off with a 2-0-0 record and are in a tie atop the Canada West standings after one weekend of action.
 
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan falls to 0-2-0 to start the 2019 Canada West season.
 
After a nine-goal Friday night affair, the Huskies and Cougars wasted little time in lighting the lamp in Saturday's affair. Just under four minutes into the first, the Cougars were pressing on an odd-man rush, but Kozun was able to shut the door with a tremendous blocker save, which allowed his team to get to work on the counterattack. Ballhorn's stretch pass sent the Huskies onto a two-on-one, and from there McVeigh knocked Shirley's saucer pass out of mid-air to open the scoring.
 
But similarly to the previous night's contest, the visitors refused to be rattled despite the early road deficit. After a nine-goal 2018-19 campaign, Gerrie grabbed the loose puck in the slot and recorded his first goal of the season to knot the game at one goal apiece.
 
At the midway point of the opening frame, the Cougars took the lead. After Ballhorn blew a tire in the neutral zone, Lindgren walked in alone on Kozun and got it past the defending U SPORTS Goalie of the Year to make it 2-1 in favour of Mount Royal.
 
With 21.2 remaining in the first period, Mount Royal extended their lead to two with Lindgren's second of the period, as he re-deflected Watson's point-shot to send the Huskies back into the dressing room down 3-1 after one period of play.
 
Saskatchewan started to claw their way back into the game in the second period, as Cable tallied the team's first shorthanded goal of the season to cut the Huskies deficit to one.
 
However, that was as close as the Huskies would come, as the final twenty minutes of play was all Cougars. After the puck took a wicked bounce off the stanchion, Kozun was hung out to dry, and Gerrie took advantage as he potted his second of the night to re-establish Mount Royal's two-goal lead.
 
The visitors kept it coming, as Chartier and Kennedy added markers in the early going of the third period before Lindgren potted his third of the night in the late going to make it a 7-2 final in favour of the Cougars.
 
The Huskies will travel west to Edmonton for two games against the Alberta Golden Bears in a rematch of last season's 2018-19 Canada West Championship and University Cup semifinal. Meanwhile, Mount Royal will play host to the Manitoba Bisons in Calgary in a two-game series of their own.