V-Reds win Mark Jeffrey Game in convincing fashion
February 9, 2012
FREDERICTON – Wednesday night the University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team displayed their ‘A’ game to the 2766 fans at the Aitken University Centre and dominated cross-campus rival St. Thomas from start to finish in winning 5-0. STU netminder Charles Lavigne was spectacular at times in making 41 saves to keep the game from turning into a rout, while at the other end of the ice Travis Fullerton only had to make 14 saves for his second shutout of the season. First star Shayne Wiebe led the UNB offence with a goal and two assists while line-mate Tyler Carroll had a goal and an assist.
This fourth and final installment of the ‘Battle of the Hill’ this season was also the occasion for the 20th annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game. In a pregame ceremony Mark’s father Jim, and Jim’s grandsons Mark and Sam, came out to centre ice to present the Mark Jeffrey Award, the most prestigious honour in the UNB hockey program, to co-winners Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) and Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB). Both recipients are veteran defencemen and current MBA students at UNB.
The V-Reds came out hard from the opening whistle and drew the Tommies into an early interference penalty. Just 14 seconds into the power play Gallant let a shot rip from the point and through a screen that Charles Lavigne (St. Bernardin, ON) was only able to get a piece of. UNB nearly extended their lead five minutes later when Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) came flying down the left side of the ice and had his shot clang off the iron behind Lavigne. At 7:57 Harty was too aggressive in trying to land a low hip check and was called for tripping. On that power play STU finally generated their first shot in the game on the UNB net at 8:24. Soon after there was a problem with the AUC clock and both teams got an unexpected breather while the clock was reset.
Around the 16 minute mark of the period UNB was buzzing all around the net, and Lavigne had to make several back-to-back saves, including robbing Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) on the doorstep. UNB was back on the power play late in the period when Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) carried the puck into the zone and fought his way through the STU penalty killers to the slot before dishing off the puck to Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) who beat Lavigne as he drove the net at 19:31. Worse for the Tommies, Jonathan Bonneau (Sherbrooke, QC) was called for hooking on Nesbitt on the play, and the Varsity Reds went right back on the power play. Shots were 15-4 in the first period for UNB.
STU did manage to kill off the carryover penalty to start the second period thanks to Lavigne in nets. At 8:10 Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PE) got the puck to Carroll who made a two-line pass to Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) calling for the puck, and Wiebe had a breakaway from the blue line as he went in and beat Lavigne blocker side. UNB added a power play goal at 12:13 when after some good puck movement it was slid across to Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) all alone at the far circle, and he bent his knee and one-timed the puck into the top corner. Lavigne had no chance on the play. There were no more goals in the period that saw UNB outshoot STU 18-6.
The Tommies looked dog tired in the third period but they didn’t go away. UNB’s Corcoran was called for charging at 8:52 and Ben Shutron (Orleans, ON) for slashing while on the penalty kill and STU had a five-on-three advantage for 47 seconds. UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall called a timeout to apparently refocus his team. The V-Reds killed off the penalties and five minutes later Clendenning put the game away when he caught up to Harty on the rush, went to the net hard and put the puck underneath Lavigne. Shots in the third period were 13-4 for UNB and 46-14 in the game.
UNB’s special teams had a good evening as their power play was 3-for-7 while STU went 0-for-6 with the man advantage. UNB was dominant on the faceoff dot all night, 48-24 in wins, with Bailey leading all centres going 22-7 on faceoffs.
When asked after the game to comment on the Mark Jeffrey Award, Gallant responded, “It’s the most prestigious award you can win here at UNB. He was known as a leader in the room during that ’84 team and he brought passion, enthusiasm and a hard work ethic to the game. To be associated with Mark, that legacy and the past winners is just an unbelievable feeling and it’s quite the honour.” When it was pointed out to the UNB defenceman that his goal was the game winner Gallant laughed and said, “It’s my mom’s birthday too. So to be able to do it for her, and for me and Bailey to go undefeated against one team in our league for five years is something that’s pretty rare and to do it against our cross-campus rivals it’s a lot of pride on the line. We’ve played them in some tight games over the years and they seem to always bring it. They are four big games of the year and to step up to the occasion every night over our five years is pretty special.”
With the win UNB eliminated STU from competing in the AUS playoffs. The 18-5-3 V-Reds only have two games remaining in the regular season, and will travel to Charlottetown Friday to play UPEI and will return home Saturday evening to host Moncton to close out the season. UNB only needs to win one of those two weekend games to secure first place in the standings and a first-round playoff bye.
This fourth and final installment of the ‘Battle of the Hill’ this season was also the occasion for the 20th annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game. In a pregame ceremony Mark’s father Jim, and Jim’s grandsons Mark and Sam, came out to centre ice to present the Mark Jeffrey Award, the most prestigious honour in the UNB hockey program, to co-winners Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) and Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB). Both recipients are veteran defencemen and current MBA students at UNB.
The V-Reds came out hard from the opening whistle and drew the Tommies into an early interference penalty. Just 14 seconds into the power play Gallant let a shot rip from the point and through a screen that Charles Lavigne (St. Bernardin, ON) was only able to get a piece of. UNB nearly extended their lead five minutes later when Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) came flying down the left side of the ice and had his shot clang off the iron behind Lavigne. At 7:57 Harty was too aggressive in trying to land a low hip check and was called for tripping. On that power play STU finally generated their first shot in the game on the UNB net at 8:24. Soon after there was a problem with the AUC clock and both teams got an unexpected breather while the clock was reset.
Around the 16 minute mark of the period UNB was buzzing all around the net, and Lavigne had to make several back-to-back saves, including robbing Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) on the doorstep. UNB was back on the power play late in the period when Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) carried the puck into the zone and fought his way through the STU penalty killers to the slot before dishing off the puck to Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) who beat Lavigne as he drove the net at 19:31. Worse for the Tommies, Jonathan Bonneau (Sherbrooke, QC) was called for hooking on Nesbitt on the play, and the Varsity Reds went right back on the power play. Shots were 15-4 in the first period for UNB.
STU did manage to kill off the carryover penalty to start the second period thanks to Lavigne in nets. At 8:10 Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PE) got the puck to Carroll who made a two-line pass to Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) calling for the puck, and Wiebe had a breakaway from the blue line as he went in and beat Lavigne blocker side. UNB added a power play goal at 12:13 when after some good puck movement it was slid across to Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) all alone at the far circle, and he bent his knee and one-timed the puck into the top corner. Lavigne had no chance on the play. There were no more goals in the period that saw UNB outshoot STU 18-6.
The Tommies looked dog tired in the third period but they didn’t go away. UNB’s Corcoran was called for charging at 8:52 and Ben Shutron (Orleans, ON) for slashing while on the penalty kill and STU had a five-on-three advantage for 47 seconds. UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall called a timeout to apparently refocus his team. The V-Reds killed off the penalties and five minutes later Clendenning put the game away when he caught up to Harty on the rush, went to the net hard and put the puck underneath Lavigne. Shots in the third period were 13-4 for UNB and 46-14 in the game.
UNB’s special teams had a good evening as their power play was 3-for-7 while STU went 0-for-6 with the man advantage. UNB was dominant on the faceoff dot all night, 48-24 in wins, with Bailey leading all centres going 22-7 on faceoffs.
When asked after the game to comment on the Mark Jeffrey Award, Gallant responded, “It’s the most prestigious award you can win here at UNB. He was known as a leader in the room during that ’84 team and he brought passion, enthusiasm and a hard work ethic to the game. To be associated with Mark, that legacy and the past winners is just an unbelievable feeling and it’s quite the honour.” When it was pointed out to the UNB defenceman that his goal was the game winner Gallant laughed and said, “It’s my mom’s birthday too. So to be able to do it for her, and for me and Bailey to go undefeated against one team in our league for five years is something that’s pretty rare and to do it against our cross-campus rivals it’s a lot of pride on the line. We’ve played them in some tight games over the years and they seem to always bring it. They are four big games of the year and to step up to the occasion every night over our five years is pretty special.”
With the win UNB eliminated STU from competing in the AUS playoffs. The 18-5-3 V-Reds only have two games remaining in the regular season, and will travel to Charlottetown Friday to play UPEI and will return home Saturday evening to host Moncton to close out the season. UNB only needs to win one of those two weekend games to secure first place in the standings and a first-round playoff bye.