REDS Send 3000+ Fans Home Happy
(FREDERICTON, NB) In a battle of the top two teams in Atlantic University Sport, the UNB REDS scored twice in the second period and two more times in the third to beat the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus 5-2 Friday night, at UNB's Aitken Centre.
Before a crowd of more than 3300, Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) had three assists to lead the REDS.
After a bit of a slow start, and with the REDS on the power-play, Cole MacKay (Sault Ste. Marie) opened the scoring at the 15:10 mark of the first period.
He fired a shot from the slot that snuck past Moncton goalie Olivier Adam (Drummondville, QC) to give the home team a 1-0 lead they'd take to the first intermission.
"Kale made a good play, a set play, where he rolls and hits me up top and I had a good screen and found a way," said MacKay, named Tim Horton's Player of the Game.
In the second period, first-year REDS forward Oliver Peer (Burlington, ON) scored his first AUS goal before Cody Morgan (Gilford, ON) extended UNB's lead to 3-0.
Peer's goal came about 30 seconds after REDS' netminder Samuel Richard (Ste. Catherine, QC) stopped Moncton's Jérémy Michel (Levis, QC) on a breakaway.
Defencemen Nico Savoie (Dieppe, NB) and Sam McGinley (Calgary, AB) added third period goals for the REDS.
"We found a way to get two there, both from defenceman, and one in a weird way with McGinley coming out of the box, but we'll take that effort," said MacKay.
Michel and Edouard St-Laurent (Levis, QC) scored in the third for Moncton.
MacKay, Morgan, and McGinley all finished the night with a goal and an assist.
Adam took the loss in the Moncton net, making 28 saves on 33 shots, while Richard made 22 saves on 24 shots in the UNB net.
"We're happy to come out with the win," said MacKay. "That's a good hockey team over there. Any time you play Moncton, you want to play your best. I thought there were glimpses of it, but we can get a lot better."
With the win, UNB is now 14-1-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and continues to sit atop the AUS standings. Moncton falls to 8-5-2-0 but maintains their hold on second place.
"Kudos to the kids, they were loud, and to their parents, who took time out of their day to bring them," said MacKay, of the large Elementary School Night crowd. "It was an awesome crowd and it always gives us an extra step when we start off slow, like we did tonight, and we lean on the crowd and they did a good job."
Les Aigles Bleus skate back into action on Saturday night when they host the UPEI Panthers. Game time is 7:00pm.
The REDS next game is next Friday, November 29th, when they host the Acadia Axemen. That game is scheduled for a 7:00pm start.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics