V-Reds smother X-Men to seize series lead

AUS Hockey | Fullerton earns shutout, Culligan, MacNeil supply goals

ANTIGONISH, N.S -- It wasn't vintage run and gun hockey from the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds here at the Keating Millennium Centre last night.

In fact, they seemed to take a page out of the playbook of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in Game 3 of their best-of-five Atlantic University Sport men's hockey conference final.

But winning playoff games is all about making adjustments, and last night it was the V-Reds beating the X-Men at their own game, utilizing a smothering defence-first approach in a 2-0 win that has them on the verge of winning their first AUS title since 2008.

V-Reds take a 2-1 series edge into Game 4 here tonight (7 p.m. on CHSR-FM 97.9) looking to wrap it up and avoid a fifth and deciding game at the Aitken University Centre Friday night. V-Reds' athletic director Kevin Dickie announced yesterday that's when a fifth game would take place, if needed.

They certainly didn't need much from a scoring perspective last night. A second-period goal by Chris Culligan converting on a nifty three-way passing play with linemates Hunter Tremblay and Daine Todd at 13:24 would be all they would need on this night.

Nick MacNeil took away any angst goaltender Travis Fullerton might have had protecting a one-goal when he lifted a shot over the right shoulder of X-Men goaltender Joey Perricone at 15:26 of the third with UNB's first power play goal of the series.

Not that Fullerton wasn't enjoying him out there playing in front of a UNB team "that made it a pretty easy night for me,'' he said in the post-mortem.

"You know, that might have been the best defensive game we've played all year. To be honest, I really didn't have to do very much out there. I'm not used to seeing a lot of shots anyway, but when it's a low-scoring game against a quality team like that, you really have to stay focused. Sometimes when it's a 3-0 or 4-0 game, I have a tendency to wander (mentally) a bit, but that wasn't the case tonight.''

Fullerton made 20 saves on this night, but really, there weren't a lot of legitimate scoring chances on the part of an X-Men team that managed just two goals in each of the first two games, losing 3-2 in the opener before tying the series with a 2-1 win in double overtime in Game 2.

In fact, their best chance wasn't even a shot on goal. X-Men gunner Chris Hulit appeared to have Fullerton down and out with UNB holding a 1-0 lead at about the halfway point in the final frame, but his wrist shot from the slot was about a foot too high.

At the other end, Perricone was his normal stingy self, making 24 saves overall and not having much chance on either goal, which were pinpoint shots from Culligan and MacNeil.

"Against a team like that, it's all about making adjustments, tweaking things because you know it's going to be a low-scoring game,'' said Culligan, who is from Creighnish less than an hour away from here. His father, Andrew, was a star player with the X-Men in the early 70's and is a member of the school's Hall of Fame.

"This is a huge win for us, and winning the Atlantic title is all we're focusing on right now,'' added Culligan.

"People talk about this not meaning anything, but that's not the way we're looking at it. An AUS title is important and what we want to do is come out here tomorrow night and do exactly what we did tonight. Nothing against Acadia (UNB's opponent in the semifinal round), but this (St. FX) is a team that comes to play playoff hockey every night out. We've still got plenty of work left.''

"Great game, great intensity and we needed everybody out there tonight, four lines going hard and six defenceman clearing the way in front of Fully,'' said UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall.

"People think that all we are is a run and gun team, but we've got the best defensive record of any UNB team in history. Honestly, I don't think we get enough credit for how good this team is (defensively). We just have to come back out and do it again tomorrow night.''

X-Men coach Brad Peddle says his team isn't about to get bogged down because of a loss. "Fifteen minutes, and then we get ready for tomorrow night,'' said Peddle, who was sporting quite a shiner over his right eye after getting hit by a puck in practice.

"Tonight, it was them taking advantage of their chances and we didn't. Simple as that. We expected a low scoring game, and that's what we got. But do you expect this team to quit? Not a chance.''