REGINA – Ryan Gagnon was the overtime hero as the University of Calgary Dinos earned a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Regina Cougars Friday night.
The Cougars led 3-1 heading into the third, but Calgary got a goal early in the final period from
Kaden Elder and then
Tyson Upper tied it up with just 26 seconds remaining in regulation. The Dinos completed the comeback early in the first overtime on a breakaway by Gagnon.
Conner Chaulk scored the U of R's first and second goals in the first period while Tyler Adams added the other early in the second.
Brendan De Jong had the other goal for Calgary, which improves to 7-3-1 with the victory.
The Cougars fall to 5-5-1 with the setback and remain in sixth place in the nine-team Canada West standings. The comeback by the Dinos ended the four-game winning streak that Regina rode into Friday.
Chaulk opened the scoring with a nice one-timer across the crease from Mike Eskra. Calgary's De Jong tied it up on the power play soon after, but in short order Chaulk restored the lead with a power play goal of his own with a helper from Tyler Heidt.
Adams extended Regina's lead in the middle frame with a wicked shot from just above the left faceoff dot. Cougars goalie Brandon Holtby maintained the two-goal lead by stopping two Calgary breakaways in the second, but the Cougars weren't able to keep the Dinos off the board in the third.
Calgary held an 11-5 advantage in shots in the final period, including the goals by Elder and Upper. The Dinos pulled goalie
Brodan Salmond with over two minutes remaining in regulation leading to Upper banging in a rebound to tie it up late.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday afternoon at The Co-operators Centre. Game time is set for 2 p.m. MT.
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