EDMONTON - Adam Hall scored his team-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season to help lead the Alberta Golden Bears to a 4-2 victory over the Regina Cougars Saturday evening at the Clare Drake Arena.
Hall was assisted on both goals by Josh Prokop who added another helper on an Eric Florchuk goal to lead the game in points with three. Florchuk also had an assist to join Hall and Prokop with multi-point nights.
Carson Whyte and Jackson Doucet were the goalscorers for Regina in a game that saw them outshoot the Bears 35-26. Alberta netminder Matt Berlin picked up his sixth straight win as a starter, stopping 33 visitor shots. His counterpart Adam Evanoff made 21 saves on 26 Alberta shots.
The win maintains the Golden Bears (9-4-1) fourth position in the Canada West standings, while the Cougars (3-9-2) stand in seventh place.
Rookie Carson Whyte got the Cougars off to a quick start, beating Berlin blocker-side to score his first career CW goal just three minutes into the contest. Hall would pull the Bears even midway through the period off a drop pass from Florchuk that found its way past Evanoff. Then, with a minute left in the period and on a powerplay, Mason Ward scored his third of the season to send the Bears into the intermission with a 2-1 lead. Berlin was solid making 15 saves against an upstart Cougar offence that outshot the Bears 16-10 in the frame.
Cougars third-year forward Jackson Doucet opened the scoring in the second with an impressive shorthanded effort in which he generated a turnover and a breakaway and slid it five-hole to find the back of the net and knot the game at 2 apiece. Five minutes later, Florchuk potted his sixth of the year off a rebound to give Bears a 3-2 lead that they would take into the third period.
The third was quieter than the opening two periods with a Hall powerplay tally, his second, being the only goal scored in the period.
This was the last regular season meeting between the two teams. Alberta heads to Manitoba for a two game set against the Bisons (1-12-1), while the Cougars return home to face the MacEwan Griffins (5-8-1).
