Reds Blank Axemen

(FREDERICTON, NB) Tyler Boland (St. John's, NL) had two goals and two assists as the U SPORTS No. 1 ranked UNB Reds defeated the Acadia Axemen 7-0 on Friday night.

"You don't want to give them any momentum," said Boland. "Rylan (Parenteau) in net was fantastic tonight, great shutout, well deserved, and when we can keep the pucks out of our zone and keep shots to a minimum as much as possible its going to work out in our favour."

The Reds improve to 7-0 with the win, while the Axemen drop to 2-5.

Kris Bennett (Brampton, ON) also had a strong showing with two goals and an assist.

The Reds had all the momentum early, putting six shots on net before the Axemen could muster one.

The Reds pace caused the Axemen to commit all sorts of turnovers, keeping most of the play in the Acadia end.

With the Reds on the power-play, Mark Rassell (Calgary, AB) took a shot from the slot that bounced right to a wide-open Matthew Boucher (Los Angeles, CA) who put it in a gaping net to put UNB up 1-0.

The Reds power-play would pay off again with Bennett feeding a textbook pass in front to Boland, who put away the Reds second goal to make it 2-0.

The Reds would keep the pressure on in the second period, and just 5:41 in, Cam Brace (Etobicoke, ON) put the puck five-hole on Axemen goaltender Logan Flodell (Regina, SK) to extend UNB's lead to 3-0.

The Axemen would find themselves in penalty trouble again late in the period giving up a two-man advantage to the Reds. UNB would again dominate the front of the Acadia net, and Chris Clapperton (Cap D'Espoir, QC) found Bennett for the Reds third power-play goal to make it 4-0.

Boland cleaned up a big rebound off a shot by Randy Gazzola (Thorold, ON) early in the third period for his second of the game, making it 5-0 Reds.

Bennett added another power-play goal, with just under 10 minutes to play, to make it 6-0.

"Our powerplay was working really good tonight," said Boland. "We've had our chances lately, just haven't been able to finish, and tonight we ended up finishing, so it was great."

The Reds went 4-7 on the power-play, while the Axemen went 0-6.

The Reds would complete the onslaught with a goal by Matt Boudens (Pembroke, ON) to make it 7-0.

Shots were 48-13 for UNB.

Boland was named Subway Play of the Game.

Rylan Parenteau (Saskatoon, SK) had a 13-save shutout for the UNB, while Flodell stopped 41 shots in the Acadia net.

The Reds play again Saturday, at the Aitken Centre, hosting the Saint Mary's Huskies. Game time is 7:00pm

The Axeman head to Charlottetown for matchup with the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers.

RECAP BY: Jonathan James/for UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics