MRU Cougars on a roll as they head for semi-final round of Canada West east division

Mount Royal Cougars clinched a playoff spot after sweeping the Saskatchewan Huskies.

The Mount Royal Cougars men’s hockey team finished first in the Canada West east division, giving the club a bye in the first round of the playoffs -- but that doesn’t mean they’re not working hard to get ready for next weekend’s semi-final series.

It was a tough start to the year for he Cougars, who started off 6-5-1, but they turned things around after their first dirty dozen games, finishing the season on a 15-2 tear.

“It got to about the second November and wee actually were right here,” said Cougar head coach Bert Gilling. “We had an overtime loss to Regina which seemed to be the turnaround.

“That was a bit of a wakeup call for our program and it was the next night, that Saturday night, we got hot basically for the rest of the season.”

The Cougars clinched their second straight east division title by sweeping the Saskatchewan Huskies last weekend.

Now, they await the winner of the University of Calgary and McEwan series.

Connor Bouchard, who became the Cougar’s all-time leader in points with 171, said he doesn’t care which team they face.

“I don’t think you ever really care,” Bouchard said. “At the end of the day, like we were talking about in the room, the four teams that are playing in the quarter finals -- like all of those teams -- can win.

“All those teams are dangerous, all those teams are really good from top to bottom, so I think whoever we get, number one we have to be prepared and we’re going to be ready and we’re going to be excited.”

Transition year

The Cougars will graduate nine student athletes this season.

Captain Kyle Walker is one of them and he wants to go out in style.

The Cougars made it all the way to the national final last year, but lost in a five overtime classic to Toronto and their season came to an abrupt end in the longest game in U Sports men’s hockey history.

The mantra this season, Walker says, is the job is not finished.

“Like when I was here my first year, I met Tyson Helgesen, he was our captain,” Walker said. “He brought on all of the values and the culture that Cougar hockey is and everything like that, so I’ve tried building that amongst the teams that we’ve had here in the last four years.

“It’s been my goal since that first year to win a championship here, so we came close, but not close enough.”