Wright caps V-Reds' rally in OT

AUS final | UNB edges St. FX 3-2 in Game 1

Ultimately, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds got it Wright.

Defenceman Ben Wright's shot from the left point found its way through a screen and past St. Francis Xavier X-Men goaltender Joey Perricone at 4:34 of the 10-minute sudden death overtime period to lift the V-Reds to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five Atlantic University Sport men's hockey conference final.

Wright's goal put the capper on a comeback by the V-Reds, who trailed 2-0 after two periods and didn't seem to have much reason for optimism entering the final 20 minutes.

But Hunter Tremblay and Daine Todd deflected point shots past Perricone 2:13 apart early in the third to tie the game and send it to extra time. From there, the V-Reds mounted a furious OT thrust, capped by Wright's game winner.

"Culligan just won the draw back to me, I was looking to get a shot on net, and it just went in I guess," said Wright. "There was a screen in front and the goalie didn't see it."

Good enough as far as the V-Reds were concerned.

"The game is not X and O's at this time of year," said UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall. "It's all about winning pucks and playing fundamental hockey. We weren't that close in the first two periods, but part of that you've got to attribute to our opponent playing a very good game. But that was a good rally. It's a good boost for the group. Any time you can come back at home, there's a confidence boost in that."

Conversely, the X-Men, who shackled the V-Reds pretty tightly through 40 minutes plus, had to feel like it was opportunity lost.

"There's no time, at this time of year, to get down about stuff like this...you can't," said St. FX coach Brad Peddle. "You saw it in the last series...you get down 2-0, you get down 3-0...we've been on both sides of this. Playoffs are about momentum. There are swings. It goes back and forth, back and forth. So we're up 2-0 and we let it get away...yeah, it hurts. "But at the same time, it's not going to affect our game tomorrow," Peddle said. "This is what we expect...close checking, tight games between two good teams. We'll take 15 minutes and we'll forget about this."

Good thing because the teams are back at it tonight at 7 p.m. at the Aitken Centre for Game 2. They certainly didn't play this one like two teams that are already guaranteed berths at the Cavendish University Cup here March 24-27. It was playoff hockey - not necessarily at its finest, because, as per the X game plan, it was sleep-inducing, close-checking hockey where shots and good chances were at a premium.

But the V-Reds snapped out of it in time to preserve their unbeaten record on home ice and take the series lead against their arch-rivals.

"We didn't really change anything," said Wright. "We came together as a team and everyone pitched in. We knew we had a lot more and we knew we could come out and win this game. It was a matter of working hard and executing and playing with heart, and that's what we did.

"They were blocking shots really well and as D men, we had to keep our heads up and get a couple through," Wright said. "The forwards were doing a good job of getting in front, but it was up to us to get them in on net."

"It's playoff hockey, it doesn't have to be complicated," Peddle said. "At the same time, I thought it was a pretty hard-fought game by both teams. Our guys competed for 65 minutes."

V-Reds got into early trouble when defencemen Jonathan Harty and Marc-Antoine Desnoyers drew penalties 32 seconds apart, giving the X-Men a 5-on-3 manpower advantage for what turned out to be 62 seconds as it was to develop, by the time penalty situations sorted themselves out.

No harm done as it turned out, but that wasn't the only scare the V-Reds were to survive in a pretty free-flowing first period in which the X-Men had 10 shots on goal and hit a couple of posts behind Travis Fullerton in the UNB net. Kevin Undershute and Bryce Swan both rung pucks off the iron, Undershute from an angle and Swan from the slot after a Desnoyers turnover.

Fullerton made a followup save on Brett Morrison, so between he and the penalty killers - called into action three times in the first period - the V-Reds managed to keep it scoreless.

That's the way it stayed until Jason Bast got a fortunate bounce off the skate of Chris Hulit, split the defence and tucked it past Fullerton blocker side at 5:50 of the second period. The V-Reds, meanwhile, could muster just six first period shots and had just eight at the midway point of the game as - shades of last season - the X-Men played that stifling style.

St. FX doubled the lead to 2-0 as Morgan MacLellan banged a quick pass from Phil Mangan on Fullerton's blocker side at 9:21. The V-Reds had some chances - Kyle Bailey with the best one from the left of the net midway through the second, just seconds after MacDougall called a timeout.

But it was just one shot, Perricone kept it out, and the X-Men pretty much shackled the V-Reds, keeping them to the outside for four harmless shots. Of course, the opportunistic X-Men managed only five of their own at Fullerton.

UNB broke through on a Tremblay deflection of Desnoyers' shot from the left point that he tipped past Perricone at 4:29 of the final frame.

The V-Reds got a badly needed spark from that goal, and it seemed a matter of time until they got the equalizer - a little more than two minutes as it turned out, with Todd deflecting a Ben Shutron point shot past Perricone to tie it at 6:42.

The rally snapped the V-Reds and the 2.626 fans from their slumber.

The X-Men responded though, settling back into their stifling style, with precious few exceptions, setting the stage for overtime, and the Wright heroics.