Regina - The University of Regina men's hockey team downed the visiting Lethbridge Pronghorns 8-2 to close out the opening half of their Canada West schedule on Friday.

Christian Magnus, Cody Fowlie and Sanfred King each scored twice for the Cougars, who move to 6-11-1 with the weekend sweep of the Pronghorns.

Troy Hunter tallied a goal and two helpers, while Brody Luhning had a goal of his own and Jordan Reeve and Erik Benoit each notched two assists.

Brandon Clowes and Justin Valentino replied for the visitors, who drop to 3-15 with Saturday's result.

Regina controlled possession for much of the opening frame, and managed to kill off an Austin Bourhis tripping penalty without allowing a Pronghorn shot on net. The pressure from the Cougars would pay off with 14:06 left in the period, as Skyler Hladun found Hunter in the slot and he one-timed a quick shot past Warren Shymko to the blocker side.

The Cougars went to the powerplay a couple minutes later after Pronghorn defender Corbin Karl was whistled for interference. Regina showed patience with the man advantage and it only took 30 seconds for the home team to capitalize. Mark Schneider prevented a Lethbridge clearing attempt at the point and sent it over to his fellow defenceman Luhning. Luhning saw that there were bodies in front and ripped a shot from the point that went off the post and in to give the Coguars a 2-0 lead.

Lethbridge got on the board late in the first period on their second powerplay opportunity of the game. The marker came on a play nearly identical to Hunter's goal, as David McMullen fed the puck in front to Clowes who beat Lucas Gore with a low shot. Mitchell Maxwell also assisted on Clowes' fifth of the season.

Regina struck again 76 seconds into the second period when Fowlie collected a loose puck in his own end and took off. Fowlie weaved through Pronghorn defenders and took the puck all the way to the goal line, where he centred it in front. King was on the other end of the pass and he flipped the puck to the short side of the net, beating Shymko to push the Cougars lead to 3-1.

The Cougars added to their lead in the second, as Austin Bourhis poked the puck away from a Pronghorn attacker and right to Hunter, who went away on a 2-on-1 with Fowlie. Hunter elected to pass, and put the puck right on the stick of Fowlie, who was able to pot it before Shymko could get across to make the save.

Lethbridge would draw closer in the second frame, as they broke in on an odd-man rush and Valentino would convert. Mike Forsyth fed a smooth pass across in front of Gore and Valentino swopped in to tuck it away before Gore could get over. Mark Hall also assisted on the marker.

The floodgates opened late in second period, as a Pronghorn defender misplayed a puck on the powerplay and it slipped out of the Cougar zone. Erik Benoit chased it down and managed to centre it with his backhand before going behind the net. The sneaky pass fooled everyone including Shymko, and Christian Magnus collected the puck and beat the goalie who was still watching Benoit behind the net.

Regina's momentum carried into the third period as the Cougars struck again just 59 seconds into the frame. Benoit collected the puck in his own end and fed a long pass to Hunter who was coming out of the box after serving a roughing penalty in Luhning's place. Hunter poked the puck past a defender over to Magnus, who wired a wrist shot past the glove of Shymko for his second of the game.

King netted his second of the game just a couple minutes later, as he took an outlet pass from Reeve and put the puck through a defender's leg before slashing to the front of the net and beating Shymko for his second tally of the afternoon. King's goal made it 7-2 for the Cougars.

Fowlie's second goal of the afternoon came with 8:01 left in the third period. He tried passing across the crease to Neibrandt but the puck was tipped by a diving Pronghorn defender and found its way past Alex Sirard, who was on in relief of Shymko.

Lucas Gore was solid between the pipes for Regina, and his night was highlighted with a diving save, robbing a Pronghorn attacker of sure goal with his glove. Gore totalled 16 saves on the night for his third win of the season.

Shymko and Sirard combined to make 35 saves.

The two teams combined for 78 penalty minutes on the afternoon, as a result of some chippy play.

Both teams will head into the December break and be back in action in January.