Cougars advance to Canada West final with thrilling 2-1 win over Dinos

The MRU Cougars advanced to the Canada West men's hockey final Sunday, defeating the U of C Dinos 2-1.

The University of Calgary Dinos took the Mount Royal University Cougars to the brink but the Cougars hung on to defeat the Dinos 2-1.

The victory propelled the Cougars to a Canada West final against the Saskatchewan Huskies.

Both the Huskies and Cougars also advance to the USports national finals.

A weekend-long series between the two local rivals all came down to a single game after the Cougars took Friday night’s opener 6-2 and the Dinos responded with a 2-1 win in overtime on Saturday.

In Sunday’s deciding game, MRU dominated play, outshooting the Dinos 38-19, but Dino goalie Carl Tetachuk stonewalled the Cougars for long stretches before the Cougars found a way to win it.

UCalgary opened the scoring, getting a first period goal from defenceman Pavel Bocharov.

In the middle frame, Justin Lies scored on a power play to tie the score at a goal apiece.

Five minutes into the third, Jayden Wiens scored to give MRU a lead they would not relinquish.

U of C pushed for the equalizer but couldn’t tie it up and as a result, the Cougars return to the Canada West Final for the second year in a row.

Game 1 of the best-of-three is Friday night in Calgary.