EDMONTON - Tyler Preziuso, Matt Fontyene, and Jakin Smallwood all had two goals in a 8-4 explosive win over the Regina Cougars Saturday evening at Clare Drake Arena.
The Bears outshot the Cougars 51-38 in the contest. Alberta moves to 18-5-3 on the year, just a point back of the conference leading Calgary Dinos, albeit with three more games played.
The Cougars saw a good performance from Riley Krane, but dropped to 8-14-2 and are a point clear of the Manitoba Bison and MacEwan Griffins for the sixth and final playoff spot.
It was a slow burn to start the game, with the teams jockeying for momentum for a large part of the opening frame. Fortunes changed for the hosts on a 5-on-3 powerplay with five minutes to go in the first when captain Matt Fontyene roofed a cross-ice feed from Dylan Plouffe to make it 1-0 Bears. It was his ninth of the year. The Cougars would strike back near immediately off of a breakaway goal from overtime hero Jayden Davis to knot it up at one.
With 1:30 to go in the period, the Bears caught alight. Fontyene, brought down on a breakaway, put a penalty shot top shelf for his second of the game. Thirty seconds later, Tyler Preziuso potted his 14th goal of the season on a nifty five-hole shot off of a faceoff.
Finally, with half a minute remaining, Justin Hall made no mistake off a Wyatt McLeod saucer to put the Bears up 4-1 heading into the first intermission. For those counting at home, that was three Alberta goals in the last 1:30 in the first period - a phenomenal offensive showing from the top scoring team in the Canada West.
An early Regina goal in the second from Jake Fletcher was called back due to a kicked puck violation. The Bears would keep turning their momentum into chances, starting with a tic-tac-toe powerplay goal off the stick of Jakin Smallwood to make it 5-1. A couple minutes later a Josh Paterson wraparound extended the lead to 6-1.
With four minutes to go, Regina found some fight. In a lengthy battle in front of Bears backstop Ethan Krueger, the Cougs Brady Pouteau was able to bang home his seventh in CW play this season. The Bears would respond quickly after, with Preziuso netting his second of the game on an Alberta powerplay that was relatively lethal, if not busy, in the contest converting 3/10 chances.
Compared to the other frames, the third was relatively quiet. The Bears would get one with five minutes to go, Smallwood potting his second of the night. However, the Cougars would not go quietly, with Scott Mickoski and Riley Krane each scoring before the final whistle.
The Bears have next weekend off before a trip to Winnipeg for the last games of the regular season. The Cougs return home for a Saskatchewan grudge match against the fifth place Huskies.
