In men's hockey, the Manitoba Bisons are on a roll as they have now won four consecutive conference regular season games after an impressive road sweep of the #3 Saskatchewan Huskies over the Oct. 10-12 weekend (Oct. 10: W 4-1; Oct. 11: W 5-2). 

The team returns home to play another top ranked CIS team as they host the #5 Mount Royal Cougars at the Wayne Fleming Arena on October 17-18 weekend. Puck drop versus the Cougars will be 7 p.m. CT on Friday, 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. 

In the conference standings, Mount Royal is tied for first place with Alberta at 5-1-0 record while the Bisons are in a three-way tie for third by sporting a 4-2-0 mark.

This is the first weekend series between the two teams this season as they will play back at Mount Royal on January 29-30. 

Since Mount Royal joined Canada West two seasons ago, the two teams have met numerous times but in the 2013-14 season, the rivalry heated up as they met in the playoffs for the first time. Manitoba won the best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series at home by a 2-1 margin. Overall in conference play, the Herd have 7-1-0 record against the Cougars heading into the weekend action.

Manitoba and Mount Royal have three players in the Canada West Top 10 scoring. For the Bisons, Shaquille Merasty is tied for fourth with eight points (three goals, five assists) while Jordan DePape (5g, 2a) is tied for seventh place at seven points and Aaron Lewadniuk (4g, 2a) is tied for ninth at six. For the Cougars, Tyler Fiddler (2g, 6a) is tied for fourth while Cody Cartier (1g, 6a) is tied with DePape for seventh and Matthew Brown (4g, 2a) is tied for ninth.

In the nets, Deven Dubyk has started in five of six conference reg. season games and tied for first in Canada West with four goaltender wins, first in minutes played at 300 plus seventh in Goals Against Average (2.00) and Save Percentage (.925). Cougars' Dalyn Flette has also played in five of six games and ranked first in Canada West Save Pct. at .948, third in conference at 1.60 GAA, second in minutes played at 299 and tied for first with four wins.