V-Reds rally to take 1st game of series
February 25, 2012
FREDERICTON – Friday night the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds dug themselves an early hole, but they pushed back against the UPEI Panthers for a hard won 4-3 victory in game one of their best-of-five AUS semi-finals. Chris Culligan led the V-Reds offence with a goal and two assists while Chris Desousa had two first-period goals to lead the Panthers attack. Mavrick Parks made 37 saves to keep the score as close as it was for UPEI.
Before the ceremonial faceoff UNB defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) was presented with the Don MacAdam Leadership Award for the second year in a row. The scholarship was started by alumni of the 1983-84 UNB hockey team in honour of their coach, who traveled to Fredericton to hand the award to Stamler.
Maybe because of their two week layoff, the V-Reds weren’t as sharp in the early going of the first period as the Panthers. Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) pinched into the UPEI zone in support of a rush, but his shot deflected out to the blue line and his defensive partner Stamler ended up in a race with Chris Desousa (Mississauga, ON) all the way to the UNB net, but Desousa was still able to score on Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) at 3:02. Just over two minutes later the Panthers won a faceoff in the UNB zone and moved the puck around quickly before Matt Carter fed Jordan Knox with a pass to snap into the net.
UNB picked up the pace and start driving the zone and net after the second UPEI goal and were rewarded with three straight power plays as a result, but they were unable to convert with the man advantage. Finally at 17:46 UNB was rewarded for their hard work on the forecheck when Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) dug the puck out of the corner, got the puck to Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS), who in turn passed to Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) in the slot who made no mistakes in beating Mavrick Parks (Eganville, ON) with a quick release.
At 18:20 UNB captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) went hard to the net and was poking for the puck in Parks’ pads and was called for slashing. The Panthers took advantage of their first power play when defenceman Reggie Traccitto (Oakville, ON) put the puck on the net as Desousa came flying through the low slot to bang in the rebound at 19:02, and restore UPEI’s two-goal margin. Shots were 16-8 in favour of the V-Reds in the first period.
The second period saw UNB come out hitting. After Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) got most of the 1948 fans cheering when he uncharacteristically crushed UPEI’s Matthew Brenton (Stewiacke, NS) in the corner, on the next shift Carroll took his man heavily into the boards and was called for boarding. The V-Reds killed off that penalty, and another five minutes later when Marc-Antoine Desnoyers (Saint-Hippolyte, QC) was called for tripping at the end of a shift. The best scoring chance on that power play actually went to UNB’s Harty, when he rang a shot off the post.
UNB kept up their physical pounding of the Panther players in the period, and at 9:09 UPEI’s Dana Fraser (Tatamagouche, NS) was called for slashing away from the play. This time the V-Reds power play had some success, when Bailey got just enough on his shot to lift a rebound over Parks’ pads at 10:03. The teams traded power plays after that, but there was no more scoring in the period that saw UNB outshoot UPEI 14-7.
The V-Reds came out flying to start the third period and hit two crossbars in less than a minute span, one by Desnoyers and the other by Carroll. Carroll’s night ended a few minutes later at 3:19 when he took Desousa hard into the boards and was assessed a five minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. In the scramble on the delayed penalty UPEI was tagged for too many men on the ice so the first two minutes of Carroll’s penalty was played four-on-four. This certainly seemed to suit UNB who had several scoring chances. Once they went on the power play the Panthers only really had one good scoring chance, when Mike MacIsaac (O’Leary, PE) somehow missed a glorious opportunity to knock a rebound into an empty net.
To the relief of their nervous fans, UNB tied the game at 9:07 when Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) used all of his considerable reach and long stick to swat the rebound from a Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) shot past Parks. Just under four minutes later the V-Reds took the lead for the first time when they were buzzing around the faceoff circle to Parks’ left when Culligan appeared to fool the UPEI goaltender with his quick release. UPEI called timeout and pulled Parks with 1:38 to go, but soon had to put him back in the nets when they lost possession of the puck. He was out of the net again in the dying second of the period but to no avail.
UNB outshot UPEI 11-5 in the final period and 41-20 in the game. The V-Reds were a dominant 42-13 in the faceoff circle, led by Bailey with a 15-7 mark. UPEI’s most successful centre was Harrison McIver (Newton, PE), and he was an unflattering 5-17. The Varsity Reds were 1-for-6 on the power play while the Panthers were 1-for-5.
After the game, UPEI netminder Parks, the game’s third star, was already looking ahead to Saturday’s rematch. “They’re the number one team in Canada for a reason. They can play hockey. We’ve got to match their effort. Sure they have a lot of skill, but so do we. We’ve got to come ready to play next game. We’re just going to take it one game at a time ... not even winning [Saturday’s] game, just winning the first period and going from there. We just need to stay in the moment, battle for a full 20 in the first period and take it from there.”
At the other side of the Aitken University Centre, the game’s first star Chris Culligan said he was not worried about UNB being down two goals in the first five minutes of the game. “We have a team that has experience and has composure,” Culligan said. “Experience goes a long way, when you have confidence that you’ve done it before and you can do it again.” As for the win itself, he said, “It’s definitely a big start to the playoffs for us to show some character and come back like that. Give all the credit in the world to Fully [Travis Fullerton]. He didn’t have his ideal start, but he showed the kind of goalie he can be. He’s the kind of goalie who can win us games for sure.”
Before the ceremonial faceoff UNB defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) was presented with the Don MacAdam Leadership Award for the second year in a row. The scholarship was started by alumni of the 1983-84 UNB hockey team in honour of their coach, who traveled to Fredericton to hand the award to Stamler.
Maybe because of their two week layoff, the V-Reds weren’t as sharp in the early going of the first period as the Panthers. Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) pinched into the UPEI zone in support of a rush, but his shot deflected out to the blue line and his defensive partner Stamler ended up in a race with Chris Desousa (Mississauga, ON) all the way to the UNB net, but Desousa was still able to score on Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) at 3:02. Just over two minutes later the Panthers won a faceoff in the UNB zone and moved the puck around quickly before Matt Carter fed Jordan Knox with a pass to snap into the net.
UNB picked up the pace and start driving the zone and net after the second UPEI goal and were rewarded with three straight power plays as a result, but they were unable to convert with the man advantage. Finally at 17:46 UNB was rewarded for their hard work on the forecheck when Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) dug the puck out of the corner, got the puck to Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS), who in turn passed to Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) in the slot who made no mistakes in beating Mavrick Parks (Eganville, ON) with a quick release.
At 18:20 UNB captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) went hard to the net and was poking for the puck in Parks’ pads and was called for slashing. The Panthers took advantage of their first power play when defenceman Reggie Traccitto (Oakville, ON) put the puck on the net as Desousa came flying through the low slot to bang in the rebound at 19:02, and restore UPEI’s two-goal margin. Shots were 16-8 in favour of the V-Reds in the first period.
The second period saw UNB come out hitting. After Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) got most of the 1948 fans cheering when he uncharacteristically crushed UPEI’s Matthew Brenton (Stewiacke, NS) in the corner, on the next shift Carroll took his man heavily into the boards and was called for boarding. The V-Reds killed off that penalty, and another five minutes later when Marc-Antoine Desnoyers (Saint-Hippolyte, QC) was called for tripping at the end of a shift. The best scoring chance on that power play actually went to UNB’s Harty, when he rang a shot off the post.
UNB kept up their physical pounding of the Panther players in the period, and at 9:09 UPEI’s Dana Fraser (Tatamagouche, NS) was called for slashing away from the play. This time the V-Reds power play had some success, when Bailey got just enough on his shot to lift a rebound over Parks’ pads at 10:03. The teams traded power plays after that, but there was no more scoring in the period that saw UNB outshoot UPEI 14-7.
The V-Reds came out flying to start the third period and hit two crossbars in less than a minute span, one by Desnoyers and the other by Carroll. Carroll’s night ended a few minutes later at 3:19 when he took Desousa hard into the boards and was assessed a five minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. In the scramble on the delayed penalty UPEI was tagged for too many men on the ice so the first two minutes of Carroll’s penalty was played four-on-four. This certainly seemed to suit UNB who had several scoring chances. Once they went on the power play the Panthers only really had one good scoring chance, when Mike MacIsaac (O’Leary, PE) somehow missed a glorious opportunity to knock a rebound into an empty net.
To the relief of their nervous fans, UNB tied the game at 9:07 when Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) used all of his considerable reach and long stick to swat the rebound from a Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) shot past Parks. Just under four minutes later the V-Reds took the lead for the first time when they were buzzing around the faceoff circle to Parks’ left when Culligan appeared to fool the UPEI goaltender with his quick release. UPEI called timeout and pulled Parks with 1:38 to go, but soon had to put him back in the nets when they lost possession of the puck. He was out of the net again in the dying second of the period but to no avail.
UNB outshot UPEI 11-5 in the final period and 41-20 in the game. The V-Reds were a dominant 42-13 in the faceoff circle, led by Bailey with a 15-7 mark. UPEI’s most successful centre was Harrison McIver (Newton, PE), and he was an unflattering 5-17. The Varsity Reds were 1-for-6 on the power play while the Panthers were 1-for-5.
After the game, UPEI netminder Parks, the game’s third star, was already looking ahead to Saturday’s rematch. “They’re the number one team in Canada for a reason. They can play hockey. We’ve got to match their effort. Sure they have a lot of skill, but so do we. We’ve got to come ready to play next game. We’re just going to take it one game at a time ... not even winning [Saturday’s] game, just winning the first period and going from there. We just need to stay in the moment, battle for a full 20 in the first period and take it from there.”
At the other side of the Aitken University Centre, the game’s first star Chris Culligan said he was not worried about UNB being down two goals in the first five minutes of the game. “We have a team that has experience and has composure,” Culligan said. “Experience goes a long way, when you have confidence that you’ve done it before and you can do it again.” As for the win itself, he said, “It’s definitely a big start to the playoffs for us to show some character and come back like that. Give all the credit in the world to Fully [Travis Fullerton]. He didn’t have his ideal start, but he showed the kind of goalie he can be. He’s the kind of goalie who can win us games for sure.”