The University of Regina's men's hockey team hosts No. 5-ranked Alberta this weekend at The Co-operators Centre as the midpoint of the Canada West schedule fast approaches. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.

The Cougars have gone 4-3-1 in their last eight contests and now sit in sixth place in the Canada West standings, one point ahead of Lethbridge with one game in hand on the Pronghorns. Matt Strueby continues to lead the Cougars offensively, as the second-year forward is tied for third in the conference with seven goals and also has a team-high 12 points.

Terrance DeLaronde has 11 points in 10 games for the Cougars, while defencemen Russ Nielsen and Mark Schneider both have six points to lead the team's blueliners. The Cougars will continue to lean on rookie netminder Lucas Gore, who has a .905 save percentage and is second in Canada West in minutes played.

After a stretch of four losses in five games in October, surging Alberta enters the weekend riding a five-game winning streak in which the Golden Bears have yielded only five goals against. Sean Ringrose sits third in the Canada West scoring race, while Real Cyr and Kurtis Mucha have split the goaltending duties for Alberta this season.

The Cougars and the Golden Bears opened up the Canada West schedule against each other in Edmonton in early October, with Alberta recording 5-2 and 2-0 wins.

Regina will play a pair of road games at Saskatchewan next weekend before the month-long December break. The Cougars will resume conference action on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 at home against Manitoba.

Live statistics for both games this weekend will be available at the all-new www.reginacougars.com.