BOX SCORE CALGARY – Taylor Stefishen potted two goals and added two helpers while Max Ross also found the twine twice as the University of Calgary Dinos scored a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the University of Regina Cougars Saturday night in Canada West Men's Hockey action.

Trailing for most of the night, the Dinos lit the lamp three times in the third period to improve to 13-7-0 on the season, pulling within two points of second-place Saskatchewan with their seventh consecutive victory. Regina falls to the .500 mark at 9-9-2.

It was a hard-fought series, with tough, physical play coupled with smooth-skating flow by both teams as the Dinos emerged with the 2-1 and 5-3 triumphs in their final two-game homestand of the regular season. And with points more precious all the time, Dinos head coach Mark Howell was pleased with his team's fight through the weekend.

“Looking at our next six games and where they (Regina) were, and then BC is winning again this weekend…you can't afford to slip at all. That was a hard a weekend as we have had all year. You had to skate, you had to hit, you had to get hit, and our guys gritted through. We got down early in both games, and it was a real character win both nights.”

The Cougars shot out in front early, scoring on their first two shots of the game. Just 90 seconds had elapsed when Brock Appleyard sniped a snap shot from the left wing above Jacob DeSerres' glove, and just over three minutes later Tyler Henry one-timed a pass from John Sonntag past DeSerres to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.

From there, the Calgary netminder would allow just one more goal on the next 22 shots he faced, and the Dinos came back to tie it before the period was out. Kevin King wired a shot from the high slot past Cougars goalie Andrew Hayes to cut the deficit to one, and Stefishen tied it up with 39 seconds left in the period on a weird one. Alex Dzielski's point shot bounced off the end boards, ping-ponged off Stefishen, then off Hayes' pad before ringing off the post and, finally, across the goal line to make it 2-2.

Regina scored the lone goal in the second period as Ward Szucki beat DeSerres near the end of an extended man-advantage situation after Calgary's Rylan Wiest was ejected from the game with a high-sticking major.

Ross scored his first of the night 3:28 into the third with the Dinos on the power play, with Walker Wintoneak and Kodie Curran drawing the assists. And the winner, which came with exactly four minutes to play, was a beauty. Stefishen, camped out at the side of the Cougars net, completed a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play from King and Curran to give the Dinos their first lead of the night. Ross would add an empty netter with three seconds to play.

Both teams tallied twice on the power play, with Regina going 2-for-5 while the Dinos scored twice on their four opportunities. And both were major factors in the game – Ross' first tied it at three early in the third, while Stefishen's second was the game-winner.

“We spent some time on the power play this week, and it came through with two huge goals for us,” said Howell. “And we're still short some bodies, so guys are playing where they normally wouldn't – and a guy like Max Ross comes through with two big goals for us tonight.”

Regina will head right back to Calgary next weekend as they face the Mount Royal Cougars Jan. 18-19 at Flames Community Arenas.

The Dinos head to Winnipeg next weekend to face the Manitoba Bisons (12-5-3), who they trail by just one point in the standings, for another two-game series. Calgary returns home Jan. 25 for the front end of a home-and-home series with the No. 1-ranked Alberta Golden Bears.

-UC-