Photo courtesy: Huskie Athletics/Electric Umbrella Images Ltd.

By Ryan Flaherty

dogs lead season series

Huskies earn valuable split with win over Cougars

Jan 17, 2026 | 10:12 PM

The Huskies men’s hockey team is heading home with three big points thanks to a 5-3 win over the Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday night in Calgary.

Chase Bertholet tallied twice and Ethan Regnier scored the winning goal against his former team as the Dogs pulled into a tie with the Cougars for second place in the East Division playoff race. Saskatchewan holds the tiebreaker against Mount Royal by virtue of the single point they earned in Friday’s overtime loss.

“To be honest, I thought we had a better, cleaner game yesterday but our guys buckled down when we needed to and found a way,” head coach Brandin Cote said.

It was a lightning-quick start to Saturday’s rematch as the teams combined for three goals in the opening four minutes of play. Vaughn Watterodt opened the scoring for Mount Royal just 45 seconds in but back-to-back breakway goals by Bertholet put the Huskies in front as fans were still finding their seats at Flames Community Arenas.

The Cougars carried play for much of the opening frame but still trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes despite outshooting the Huskies 12-6. But they found the equalizer less than a minute into the second on a goal by Spencer Moe.

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The visitors once again responded in rapid fashion as Josh Pillar netted his fifth goal of the season less than a minute later after a hustle play by Dawson Holt, who won a race to negate a potential icing call and hit Pillar with a pass in the left circle.

MRU found the scoreboard again midway through the frame, moments after having a potential goal waved off. The Cougars won the ensuing draw and Dawson Milliken shoveled home a rebound from the edge of the crease to level the score after 40 minutes of play.

The third period belonged to the Huskies though with Regnier scoring his third goal of the weekend with nine minutes remaining to put USask back in front. Less than two mintues later, Conner Roulette provided some much-needed insurance with his 11th of the year.

“My teammates helped me out quite a bit with a couple of really nice passes and plays but yeah, it feels really good to score against them for sure,” said Regnier, who has scored five of his seven goals as a Huskie against his old club.

“He’s a gamer. When the chips are down you know you can rely on him. He’s had some bad puck luck the first part of the year but I know I can count on him in a lot of different situations,” Cote said.

The Dogs defence and goaltending did the rest, holding the Cougars at bay until the final buzzer including nearly three-and-a-half minutes with Mount Royal skating six-on-five. Nolan Maier improved to 2-0 as a Huskie with a 30-save effort, while MRU netminder Shane Farkas suffered his first loss since rejoining the team at the break, turning aside 19 of 24 shots. Both teams were 0-for-3 on the man advantage.

The Huskies now sit at 14-4-2 with two games in hand on the Cougars, who fell to 14-6-2. Meanwhile across town, the Calgary Dinos were swept by UBC, leaving both USask and MRU four points back of Calgary for top spot in the East Division.

Saskatchewan now returns home to host the arch-rival Alberta Golden Bears next weekend.

“Rest and recovery is going to be important. We’re going to have to handle that well and just get refocused, and take some of the momentum into next weekend at home. It’s always an exciting weekend when Alberta comes to town and again, four real important points on the line,” Cote said.

The Huskies and Golden Bears clash on Friday and Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place with both games scheduled for 7 p.m. Fans can catch all the action on the free HuskieFAN app.

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