BOX SCORE CALGARY – A four-goal first period gave the No. 2 University of Calgary Dinos an edge they would never give up as they recorded an 8-2 win over the University of Regina Cougars on Friday night at the Father David Bauer Arena.

Regina came into town hoping to make a statement in the first game of the weekend. The Cougars were coming off a sweep of their provincial rivals, the Saskatchewan Huskies, which cemented them into third place in Canada West. The road team didn't have their best on Friday night through as the Dinos jumped all over them and didn't give in.

"Coming in this week we wanted to prepare really well because Regina is a good team," stated forward Spencer Edwards. "They are in third place in this league and that's not an easy thing to do. We wanted to play with the same tempo we did against U of A and I think we did that in the first."

Calgary improves their record to 14-0-1 and remains first in Canada West above the Alberta Golden Bears (14-1-0). Despite the loss, Regina holds ground in third with a mark of 8-6-0. The Cougars will get a second chance at it tomorrow night when they meet the Dinos again.

To say the Dinos got off to a strong start in the opening period would be an understatement. Attempting to rebound from their first setback of the year, Calgary scored four goals in under seven minutes of action to grab hold of a 4-0 lead through one period.

"Our start was exceptional, our pace, intensity, purpose were all really good. We created turnovers in those first five minutes and got up quick," said fifth-year head coach Mark Howell. "We just came out really, really hungry."

Scoring on the power play only 80 seconds into the period, fifth-year rearguard Cory Pritz picked up his fifth goal of the season with a screen-shot from the point.

At 2:34, Calgary doubled their lead. As Walker Wintoneak attempted to wrap the puck in around the right post, Kevin King collected the loose change and put one behind netminder Lucas Gore for his fourth of the year.

Leading the conference in goals by defenceman, Giffen Nyren added another one to his total at 5:49. Going coast-to-coast on the left side of the ice, Nyren sneaked past a defender and tucked the puck behind the Regina goaltender as the Dinos began to pour it on early.

The Cougars called a time-out following the goal by Nyren, but the team was unable to clean up their game as Calgary found the back of the net again soon after. Edwards connected his fourth goal of the campaign for his team's fourth goal of the period at 6:54.

In the second, Regina came out with a better push as they were able to sustain some time in the Calgary end.  The Cougars couldn't find a way to generate any serious scoring chances though as the Dinos netted two more goals.

Finding a hole between two Regina defencemen, Chris Collins drove past and backhanded a slick shot past Gore for his conference-leading 12th of the season at 4:44 of the second period.

Recording his second of the evening, Edwards made it a 6-0 game. Looking off Chance Lund on a two-on-one, the former Moose Jaw Warrior went top shelf from the left side for his fifth of the year at 11:53.

"My line has been a bit snake-bitten for a while here so it was nice to get a couple of chances and put the puck in the net," shared Edwards post-game.

Four more shots would find the back of the net in the third period, rounding out the 8-2 final. Brooks Myers scored his second of the season at 8:38, followed by Collins' second goal of the night at 15:08 of the final frame.

The Cougars finished the game strong in the final five minutes of play. Austin Bourhis got it started for the visitors as he broke Lazaruk's shutout with his second of the year at 16:28. After a major penalty to Pritz, Regina potted another one in the dying seconds as first year Cody Fowlie lit the lamp.

Calgary outshot Regina in the game 34-20. The Dinos were 1-4 on the power play, while the Cougars went 1-3.

Returning to school and the rink in 2014, the Dinos will play their first games of the second half on Jan. 10-11 in a home-and-home against the Lethbridge Pronghorns. Action will start at the Father David Bauer Arena on the Friday before shifting to the Nicholas Sheran Arena the following night.

Regina will also start the second semester against the Pronghorns, playing them on the road on Jan. 3-4.

-UC-