MacNeil scores in Nick of time

V-Reds | Beat Axemen in 4th OT to grab 2-0 lead

Call it an instant classic.

On second thought, there was nothing "instant" about it.

Nick MacNeil's second goal of the game at 11:53 of the fourth sudden-death overtime period gave the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds a thrilling 3-2 quadruple overtime victory over a game bunch of Acadia Axemen and a 2-0 lead in the best of five Atlantic University Sport men's hockey conference semifinal series. UNB won Saturday's opener, 4-0.

MacNeil took a feed from Chris Culligan on the left wing and snapped the puck past the blocker of Acadia goaltender Kristofer Westblom on the 80th shot he faced on a marathon evening in front of 1,069 fans at the Aitken University Centre.

"I don't really remember how Cully got it, but he got it," said MacNeil. "I remember there were two guys, one defenceman and one guy who seemed parallel with me. He seemed pretty tired. I just yelled to Cully and he put it right on my stick. I didn't stop it...I snapped it as soon as I got it."

Combine it with his first goal way back at 5:07 of the first period and another by Josh Kidd at 16:47 of the second and it was enough - eventually - to put the Axemen away.

Dustin Ekelman, on a breakaway at 6:30 of the second period - the first goal the Axemen had scored against the V-Reds in more than 10 periods of hockey extending back to the regular season, and a power play tally by Andrew Clark, gathering his own rebound and putting it past Travis Fullerton from a sharp angle tied it up at 7:12 of the third and set the stage for a dramatic - and long - night.

Westblom was, in a word, incredible. MacNeil, Taylor Procyshen, Hunter Tremblay, Daine Todd, Culligan - no doubt he saw them in his dreams.

"It's a loss at the end of the day, no matter how many minutes we play, no matter how many shots on goal," said Westblom in the aftermath. "It's a loss and we're down 2-0 to UNB...it's a pretty big hole. It's a little bit of a blur, but he had a step on our backchecker, and he got a good shot away. He snapped it pretty hard and it beat me on the short side."

Acadia coach Darren Burns was dejected in the aftermath, but was proud of his team.

"It's very heartbreaking, I guess," he said. "For me personally it's not. I think, arguably, that could be the gutsiest effort I've ever seen a hockey team put in with a lot of odds against them. I hate to brag about my guys, but we had a fair amount of adversity and for them to come into this building and do what they did...every guy in the lineup just did all he could. I don't think I could be prouder of a group of guys' effort on one night. What our guys were doing...they couldn't even stand up, they were so gassed."

MacNeil said the V-Reds' superior conditioning paid off.

"You've got to keep grinding in those situations," he said. "Four overtimes...you've got to start keeping your shifts a little shorter and more intense...you can't be finishing your hits every time. You've got to save some energy. But our team is in really good shape here. Kenny (strength and conditioning coach) Seaman does a great job on our fitness and it showed out there."

MacNeil had 10 shots on goal himself. Procyshen had 11 - including about three gilt-edged chances to end it early. But the four hour and 45 minute marathon comes with big dividends - V-Reds lead the best-of-five series 2-0 heading to Wolfville on Thursday night. Should the Axemen be able to get up off the mat and prolong the series, they'll play Friday.

The reigning CIS champion Saint Mary's Huskies rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the St. Francis Xavier X-Men 4-3 last night before 2,458 fans at the Halifax Forum.

The X-Men appeared poised to take a 2-0 lead in the series, building a 3-0 lead on two goals by Scott Brannon and another by Chris Hulit 7:07 into the second. But Lucas Bloodoff and Mike Danton scored for SMU before the period was over, Chris MacKinnon tied it on the power play midway through the third and defenceman David MacDonald notched the winner at 16:33. Joey Perricone made 30 saves for St. FX while Neil Conway stopped 22 shots for the win. Game 3 goes Tuesday, also in Halifax.

UNB 4 Acadia 0

Count Saturday night's 4-0 victory over the Axemen as a big win for the V-Reds.

Consider it a triumph for Ben Shutron. Five months and eight days after suffering a broken right leg, the 22-year-old defenceman was back on the blueline - in the starting lineup no less - for the V-Reds in the semifinal opener.

That first shift, months in the making, lasted just 27 seconds. But it represented the culmination of a whole winter of hard work by Shutron, by athletic therapist Joe Glenn, by two student trainers named Matt Cochrane and Tyson Stewart - and the power of a positive thinking.

"My parents are pretty proud of me," said Shutron, smiling widely. "It's a happy day."

"It says a lot about the human mind and determination and the human spirit," said coach Gardiner MacDougall, who said the V-Reds' medical staff had, at various times this season, assessed his chances of coming back at 10 and 15 per cent.

"The training staff spent hours and hours with him...at our level, you couldn't get better treatment. But we thought 'he's going to run out of time.' You think of the injury he went through and you think 'He looks ready, but he can't be ready.' The doctors cleared him and I said 'What does that mean?' (And they said) 'No, no, he can go, everything.'

And, with blueliner Jonathan Harty down with a virus which has dogged him for the last week or so...well, there was Shutron. The standing ovation from 1,511 fans was in recognition of UNB's AUS championship men's volleyball team, introduced at centre ice before the game. But some of it should have been for Shutron.

And, if you'll allow for a little bit of rust, he played pretty well on a pairing with veteran Luke Gallant. He was even in plus/minus and had two shots on goal, including a first period slap shot where all his weight went on his right leg and he forced goaltender Kristofer Westblom to make a good glove save. He made one hard cut to the net midway through the second period, was sandwiched between a couple of Axemen and got right back up. And with 4:44 left in the second period, he unleashed a blast from the left point that rung off the goalpost. Clang or not, it was a sweet sound to Shutron.

"Another millimetre to the left, it would have bounced in," said Shutron. "It was a delayed 5-on-3 and I just wanted to get the puck to the net. It was nice to hear that sound again, it just would have been better if the puck went in the net."

No matter. The V-Reds were already up 3-0 by then on second period goals by Chris Culligan, Marc-Antoine Desnoyers and Spencer Corcoran, and Kyle Bailey would add another on the power play less than a minute later, more than enough against the anemic Axemen this night.

Travis Fullerton had to make just 15 stops to record the shutout, despite the fact the Axemen were granted nine power plays, including three 5-on-3 opportunities. Shutron wasn't on the penalty kill, but played a regular shift.

"I had the benefit of practising against our own team, which is the number one team in Canada," he said. "When you perform well in practice, it gives you that confidence you can do it in a game."